Mission Organization

Who can believe it's nearly August?  Certainly not this girl!

I have no idea what happened to my July.  Literally it was here and then nearly gone in an instant.  We've been busy...seeing friends and family, attending parties and celebrations, going to the lake and the pool and the fair.  All while sweating our butts off in this historically hot summer.

Being so busy doing fun summer stuff means that a lot of things at home have been neglected.  Like laundry and grocery shopping and cleaning and finishing up the basement.  But the most neglected has to be the 'collection pockets' of our house, like the home office.  And the garage and the closets and lots of other spaces I won't mention.  :)

I need to get some organizing under control!  

My first stop is our office.  I'm not even going to show a photo because that's just how bad it is.  There is some shelving and a desk and a filing cabinet.  But there are also piles (and piles and piles) of various things -- items that need to be filed, others that need to be shredded, items that need to be donated or given away and just bits and pieces stuffed in there because they have no other home.

I have been scouring Pinterest (duh!) for some office organization inspiration.

I think something like the Style Tile system from PB Teen would be easy to recreate with molding and cork tiles.

Source: PB Teen

Raising Up Rubies has the most beautiful organization in her craft room.  I'm totally going to recreate some of her pretty ideas for my office.  

Source: Raising Up Rubies

This organized office space from bhg.com makes my heart happy.  Oh, to have everything neatly in it's place!

Source: bhg.com

I found the perfect tall narrow dresser for craft storage at Goodwill last week.  It was only $22 but I second guessed buying it and left empty handed.  Of course I can't get that silly dresser out of my head and now I'm kicking myself for not getting it.  It would have been PERFECT.  Ah, such is life!

All of my organization ideas will have to wait for the time I can find to get them executed.  Maybe September?  Ha!  

Are you trying to get a space organized in your house?  I'd love to see your ideas!

Wanna follow me on Pinterest?  Here I am :)

Kids and Guest Bathroom Inspiration

Like many of you, projects are always running through my head.  About two years ago, we did some work in our builder-basic guest bathroom.  We painted, replaced the stripper light fixture (you know, the strip fixtures with the glaring round bulbs), added cabinet hardware, changed the faucets and replaced the large builder mirror with two separate smaller mirrors.

Right now, it's kind of an odd mixture of things, but now that our kids primarily use that bathroom, I want to make it theirs.  I've been toying around with some ideas, including a new color scheme.  The walls are currently a darker green.  

I found this alphabet shower curtain at Target on clearance for $6!  It's a fun shade of blue, but it's also got a lot of great colors to pull from it, including bright orange, green, yellow, gray and navy.

Here's my current inspiration for the room.  The navy and white fabric is for the stripes I think I want to paint, at least on a portion of one wall.

Have you decorated a shared kids and guest bath lately?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Source List

1.  It's actually a fabric made by Swavelle/Mill Creek, Indoor/Outdoor Finnigan Indigo from Fabric.com.  I'm using it to represent the navy and white wall stripes.
2.  Reversible green towels from Crate & Barrel
3.  Yellow rug from One Kings Lane
4.  Ikea Ekby shelves
5.  Circo ABC Fabric Shower Curtain from Target
6.  Kids Bath Prints from Paper Llamas on Etsy
7.  Delta Providence Oil Rubbed Bronze bathroom hooks 

Painted Union Jack Rug Tutorial

Yesterday I shared my son's new big boy room.  One of my favorite parts of his room is the painted Union Jack rug.

Union Jacks are popping up all over the place and I love it!  I did some searching online for a rug, but everything I found was quite pricey.  I thought that with a little effort, I could DIY a painted Union Jack rug.  It was a success! 

This is my first tutorial, so here goes :)

Materials

White rug - I used the ever versatile and affordable Erslev rug from Ikea ($40!)

Frog tape

Measuring tape

Drop cloth

Photo of a Union Jack

Your choice of latex paint - I used 2 of RustOleum's premixed paints - more on that to come

Small foam roller

Scotch Guard

I started out with the rug rolled out on my kitchen floor and got to measuring.  Using your Union Jack photo as a guide, start taping out the cross. 

The stripes for the cross were 16 inches wide.  No real reason for that size, I just liked that width once I measured it out.  :)

I added a second strip of tape to make the white outline of the cross a little thicker.  I wanted to be sure that the middle section was crisp, so I had to go back and fix it.  :)

Next up, I measured the rays.  I wasn't exactly sure how I would do this, so I just laid out the measuring tape from the corner of the rug to the corner of the tape box.

After realizing that would make the rays a little too narrow, I added a second strip of tape on the outside to thicken up the white outline.  I pulled the middle sections of tape up.

I saved the tape "spacers" and reused them on the rest of the rays until everything was taped and ready for paint.

Since I know myself, I decided to write on the tape where each color needed to go.  :)

Now we're ready to paint!

I rolled up the rug and took it out to my garage.  I know much of the country is experiencing a heat wave, but man, it was a hot day to take on this project.

The colors I used were Rust-Oleum's American Accents Satin Colonial Red and Rust-Oleum's Painter's Touch Gloss Navy Blue. 

Neither color was exactly what I expected when I opened them up, but it all turned out in the end. :)  For this purpose, I think the gloss paint worked a little better than the satin.  I only needed one quart of the navy, but I needed two quarts of the red.  The rug just soaked up the paint.  Of course I didn't have enough and had to go out and buy more!

I started with the blue and painted all of the blue sections first.  It was much easier to paint with the "grain" of the rug than against it.

One tip is to make sure you've fully covered one section with paint before moving on to the next one.  I noticed a few spots that needed touching up after it started drying.  I ended up with a few spots darker than others because of those touch ups.  It adds character :)

I then went back and painted all of the red sections, just being careful around the wet blue sections.

Can you tell it was getting hot?  I stopped taking as many photos and instead, painted as quickly as I could.

I peeled off the tape as soon as I was done with each section.  The paint did bleed under the tape in a few spots, but unless you're staring at the rug they're not noticeable. 

I left it to dry in the garage for one night and then Scotch Guarded it the next day and let it dry overnight once again.

The finished product in the finished room :)

Is it perfect?  Certainly not, but I wouldn't hesitate to do a similar project again.  :)

Any questions?  Just let me know!

Have you tried painting a rug?

Linking up!

Savvy Southern Style
Home Stories A to Z
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
House of Hepworths
Tatertots and Jello
At the Picket Fence
Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday

Tyson's Transportation / Alphabet Big Boy Room

It's only been ELEVEN months in the making, but I think my little man's room is complete.  Phew!

I showed ya'll his sweet blue nursery and that room will always hold a very special place in my heart.  I think most moms, especially first-time moms, feel similarly about their baby's nursery.  It was hard to let go some of the elements of that room, but time has certainly made it easier.

Last summer, my boy climbed out of his crib and we started very, very slowly transitioning his room from a baby's nursery to a big boy's room.  It is so weird to me to think that I chose everything for his nursery and now his room is filled with things that he loves.  Mama likes them too, of course, but this room is all about him.

I kept some things the same.  The wall color (Icy by Sherwin Williams) and the board and batten trim stayed.  The furniture is just his crib converted into a full size bed.  He still has the same white Target bookshelf, the same dresser and some of the same prints on the wall.

Then came the addition of a new color scheme.   Since I was keeping his black furniture and light blue walls, I wanted to find a few coordinating colors that would work.  Those colors eventually became red, light blue, navy and white.

I found the bedding at HomeGoods and it works perfectly for this room.  Tyson gets upset when his car sheets have to be washed and the plain ol' sheets go on for a bit.

His babyish wall decal went away and was replaced by DIY transportation canvases of an airplane, boat and car, inspired by the Pottery Barn Kids canvases of long ago.  Remember when I said this project has been eleven months in the making?  I'm pretty sure those PBK ones are no longer available.  :)

I found this alphabet wall decal from Etsy seller DecalFarm and just ordered it in coordinating colors.  The hooks on the wall were a clearance find from HomeGoods.

The armoire had to go because it was too big to fit in the space with his crib converted to a full size bed.  We replaced the rocker with an upholstered chair from Target just before Quinn was born.

He recognizes his name and loves to see it on things, so I added it in pretty big letters on his wall.  


See that Union Jack rug?  I painted it.  :)  I'm excited to share the tutorial on it tomorrow!

This airplane has to be one of Tyson's favorite things in his room.  My husband thought I was crazy when I came home with it from HomeGoods and asked him to hang it from the ceiling.  Tyson loves to spin the propeller every chance he gets.

The curtains are the same ones from his nursery.  I just added the fabric and ribbon to them (no sewing!).  I originally planned to hang them with the fabric toward the bottom but I liked it better at the top.  

These sweet prints from Etsy seller NellaDesigns were in his nursery and I kept them.  They're one of my favorite parts of the room.  The little red sailboat is actually a votive holder from Goodwill.  

Finishing this room was a long time coming, but I'm thrilled with the way it turned out.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the rug tutorial  :)

I'm Linking Up!

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Home Stories A to Z
DIY Show Off
Between Naps on the Porch
Savvy Southern Style
House of Hepworths
Tatertots and Jello
At the Picket Fence

My Aunt and Uncle's Gardens

A few weeks ago, my Aunt Susan and Uncle John were featured in my hometown's garden walk.  They have a beautiful home and property and have worked so hard on their grounds.  They deserved this honor!  Their property is an inspiration for us, especially as newbie landscapers.

My aunt is a master gardener and it shows.  I'm lucky to have someone so talented to answer my questions.  Someday she'll be a great source of perennials for us too :)

I took some photos of their property on the day of the garden walk.  We were too comfortable where we were to visit any of the other gardens.  I know they must have been lovely too. 

Here's a tour of Aunt Susan and Uncle John's gardens. 

This is their side yard, off of the garage. 

Their beautiful pond with annuals and perennials.  I also love those grasses behind the pond.  I think it's called maiden grass.  I want some for my yard :)

Fish usually live in the pond all year long.  You can also regularly see birds bathing in the upper sections by the rocks and frogs make regular appearances too.

Tyson can't get enough of this spot when we visit.





I think those taller pink flowers are bee balm.  I loved them and want to find a spot to add them into our landscape plan.

This section gets full sun throughout the day and is full of lovely perennials and some fun items in between, like this headboard and that little ladybug.

I think one of my favorite parts of the garden is the shade garden.  Tall, lovely mature trees --those are few and far between in my newer subdivision.

Even with the super hot summer we've been having, this spot was nice and comfortable.

Congratulations Aunt Susan and Uncle John! 

I'll be back tomorow with some projects that I'm super excited about :)

Two Features Today!

I am shocked and excited and overwhelmed and thrilled!  :)

Check out the TWO features today on some pretty fantastic blogs for our Basement Built-Ins!

One is at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and the other is at Home Stories A to Z.

The Basement Remodel, Part 4: The Built-Ins

The basement project has taken over most of the first half of 2012 for us.  We're still working on final details, like things on the walls, but there has been quite a change already!  Check out Parts 1, Part 2, and Part 3 to see what I mean. 

I think these built-ins actually took the most time out of anything we did, even building new walls, but they turned out even better than we imagined. :)

The "plans" were literally drawn by me, quite roughly, on a sheet of notebook paper and then we improvised as we went along.

To me, this space was screaming for something like this.  We had the bulkhead that made a perfect spot for a television, a small space to the right for shelving and then just made the same size shelving on the left.

I wish I could provide some kind of tutorial for this, but there really isn't one.  We were winging it the entire time and just thankful that it turned out so well.  I'm not joking when I say winging it.  Ryan was originally going to build the doors himself, but we LUCKED out when I found some ready-made doors at Menards that actually fit our openings.

Everything is built out of 3/4" MDF.  The 3/4" probably wasn't necessary, but we wanted something quite sturdy.  It is built on a base made out of 2x4s.

Just as a refresher, this is what we were dealing with before, a whole lotta nothing:

And after :)

You can see here how the middle section is a little deeper than the bookshelves. 

We had an electrician wire the television, soundbar and all of the other cables that run down to the little cubbies.

I am beyond thrilled with the final product and with all of the soon-to-be organized storage we have.  Space for board games!  Space for those pesky DVDs!  Extra toy storage! 

I'm in love.

Now, I just need to get some fun stuff on those shelves!

I'm linking up:

Between Naps on the Porch
Tuesdays Treasures