A New Creation

EPIC room makeover GIVEAWAY

2011-04-27T15:47:00.025-04:00

The KITCHEN

So we moved into this charming fixer-upper TWO years ago with ZERO budget for a kitchen remodel. Fast forward two years and we've still got ZERO budget for a kitchen remodel. But we make the best of whats around, a little paint here & there. I've painted the cabinets, spray painted the countertops, painted a chalkboard on the bulkhead... but it's still MISSING the MARK on STYLE. It's one of the only places left in our house that just isn't ME. But I'm working with an already VINTAGE kitchen - not a brand spanking new one - so thats gotta earn me a couple points, eh?

Don't get me wrong, its got good bones - a lot of "POTENTIAL" if you will. It serves as our main entrance to the house (we're backdoor kind of people), we've got a ton of cabinets (which can be totally repainted, doors left on or off, open shelving on top, you know - whateva), a lot of counter space (again, completely open to changes there), two closet pantries that need a paint job, a fireplace (what!?!), an eat-in kitchen area (with a sad, sorry table that needs some love) and a sweet exposed brick wall that currently lacks any good decor. And it leads out to a small patio, which looks out on our 3/4 acre backyard.

The PATIO

We live on a busy road. Needless to say, we don't spend much time out front. Thankfully we have a big backyard for the kids to run around in. We have a small patio off of our kitchen that we spend a great deal of time on, watching the kids. We often have friends over and use our patio for entertaining / eating dinner. It works out well since its connected to the kitchen, but it needs a swift kick in the pants style-wise. Paint? Outdoor rug? Some new upclycled furniture? Yes Please!!

So what makes my space UNIQUE?

The exposed brick wall. All sixteen feet of it needing at the very least some new pretties hanging from it.

A working fireplace (in the kitchen!) This little feature pretty much sold me on the house when we were looking. The house has some whimsy in other places too, but how charming is a fireplace in your kitchen? This could TOTALLY be done well, but for now it's just Blah. I'm up for changing as little or as much of this feature as you'd like.

The pass-thru window. This would be the window to the right of the back door there. I would LOVE to integrate the back patio and the kitchen. I'm seeing a vintage sign hanging outside this window to use as a tray or pass-thru for summer get-togethers. whaddayathink?

A second sitting area to decorate - the back patio. We have people over a lot in the spring/summer/fall and we use our back patio LOTS. How great would it be to incorporate the design elements of the kitchen out onto our patio?!

So what PIECES TO REUSE & where to SHOP?

Cubby for Shoes. I said before that this is our most used entrance so we drop our stuff here. We found this in our garage loft. Come to think of it, we find a ton of good junk out there. And we can shop for free up there. I'd like to keep this shoe cubby. It's old, shabby, and holds our shoes well.

Kitchen Table. I'm NOT particularly attached to this - go ahead & paint it, refinish it or just scrap it and start over.

In addition to Goodwill and Salvy, I'm thinking we need to make a trip to Pittsburgh's Construction Junction and the Habitat Restore.
Well, thats all I got!

And Mandi, i LOVE YOUR GUTS!

a simple sign

2010-02-02T16:22:00.001-05:00

So this one is a no brainer. It took me all of 10-15 minutes. I took an old framed print of a bridge (the civil engineer in me) and covered the mat with scrap fabric.

Then I printed out the words "Be Still" from Psalm 46:10 onto plain printer paper. I traced the letters very hard with a pen over top of the fabric so that it showed up a little.

Then I took a permanent marker (I call it a "sharpie" but hubby insists that the words "sharpie" and "kleenex" are BRAND names and not common nouns. whatever. where was I?)

So I took that permanent marker and I traced over my light pen line and filled in. I replaced the glass and hung my new "art" on the wall under my ~~old junky "art" that cost $1~~ ladder.

Everyone Loves a Giveaway & A C.U.T.E blog!

2009-12-03T09:02:00.003-05:00

What a great week to find the cutest little blog! I stumbled upon Making the World Cuter when I saw her fabulous advent calendar here. And then I saw this:

Check it out.... and get entered!!! gotta love a giveaway and why not LOTS of giveaways!

A Big Basket for Blankets: Improvised

2009-11-06T12:32:00.007-05:00

I love blankets. I love to wrap up in them. I love to have them out for people to wrap up in when they visit. (Bear in mind our ~~cheapness~~ thriftiness, it stays between 62-64 degrees in our house all winter.) I like when other people have them out in their house. I think they add such coziness and warmth (imagine that!) to a living room.

I have never done this well. I've always wanted a h.u.g.e basket for putting blankets in. You know, the kind that are over $100.

Like these beauties from Pottery Barn for $89-$129.

Photo Credit: Pottery Barn

Or this one from Restoration Hardware for a mere $149.

Photo Credit: Resoration Hardware

Now I know they sell them at Marshalls or TJ Maxx for a discounted $40-$60, but I still don't want to pay $50 for a basket. I love my husband that much!

Well, I busted out my blankets since its November now. And after rearranging the furniture in my living room a little, I had the perfect space to store my blankets beside the loveseat. Then, I remembered these two crates that were left here by the previous owner. I used them outside this summer to decorate the back porch....

Pretty nasty after being outside all summer and then in my scarey basement for a few days...

a good scrubbing and this would be my blanket "basket" improvised.. for F.R.E.E! It holds 5 throw blankets! I'm way excited! I didn't bother repainting or anything

Shopping the house never felt so good!

*Edited to Add: Get over to Get your Martha On for her awesome Pottery Barn giveaway. you know, the one or two or maybe three of you that will see this.... ;)

*Edited to Add: I'm linking this up to MET Monday at Between Naps on the Porch!

*Also Edited to Add: I'll link up to DIY Day at Kimba's. At her NEW place on the web!!

Typewriter Keys: the afters

2009-11-05T20:58:00.003-05:00

Here are some of the "After" shots of this project ... now that its completed and hanging above the desk in our living room.

It did need another coat of stain! And I decided against the shelf and locker box at the last minute.... so she hangs all alone here. I'm liking it!

PotteryBarn's Typewriter Keys Knock-Off

2009-11-02T19:43:00.002-05:00

I saw this picture about two months ago and loved it...

Photo Credit: PotteryBarn

Specifically, I'm loving those typewriter keys. SO then I happen upon Suzie Harris' project at Bienvenue ....

Photo Credit: Bienvenue

And I believe she has this listed in her etsy store ... unless someone snatched it up already. Had I known of Suzie's incredible sign making skills at the time, I would not have attempted this project... but I didn't. And I thought to myself, "I could make that."

Yea, leave the sign making to the truly gifted, crafty signmakers and not to mommies of 2 kiddos (2 and under) whose patience is ~~nowhere in sight~~ lacking by the time they are able to work on this project each night.

So fast forward a bit .... I used some thin plywood underlayment that we had in our garage from when we tore up the old kitchen floor. Yes, we save used underlayment around here. And I cut it to 30"x30". Pottery Barn's version is 42"x42" but that is just huge for my space. So I chopped off a foot in either direction.

I painted it up with Behr's seaside sand, which I always have on hand. Then I used black licorice acrylic paint for the circles, which cost me $0.97 at WalMart.

I printed out my letters and numbers/symbols in a font that I liked and I traced around them really hard with a pen so that they would imprint on the underlayment. And I filled in the traced letters. And that stretched me. I long to be crafty.. I really do.. but it stretched me. Fortunately I'm not afraid of paint... and I had to repaint one or two ~~or three~~.

When all of the letters were painted, I stained that bad boy with Minwax's Provencial 211, which I also had on hand.

And there she is. The PB version is going for $349. I made mine for $0.97 and a lot of labor.

And I am looking forward to editing this post to include the finished product hanging in my living room.... but I literally just finished staining tonight and was too excited not to share ..... And come to think of it - I'm definitely going to add another coat of stain. It needs to be darkened up. any thoughts on that...?

I'm linking this up to DIY Day at Kimba's.
Happy DIY day.... all you who actually completely finish your projects before posting!

Edited to add: I'm linking this up to the I can make that party at Just A Girl because I have a couple friends who have specifically requested one.... and while I didn't think of it as a gift (you can see it hanging on my wall here) I do have a ton more underlayment and paint! Maybe I could crank out one or two for gifts before Christmas!

Now all I need is more time....

Leen the Graphics Queen

2009-10-28T14:19:00.003-04:00

Check out the giveaway over at It's the Little things ......

And then check out Leen the Graphics Queen on Etsy and her really sweet stuff like this:

Photo Credit: LeenTheGraphicsQueen's Shop Etsy

I'm loving this for the boys room.

Decor Blogging Fun

2009-10-28T07:33:00.000-04:00

Check out Beth at The Stories of A to Z.... and her hilarious top ten list for decor bloggers.

So so funny!

a bathroom renovation ... DIY style

2009-10-27T19:13:00.001-04:00

Our first floor bathroom when we moved in ................ Something needed to be done!

Hubby took out the shower doors and some of the tile came out with them.. to reveal some other tile and wall in disrepair. Therefore, all the tile had to come out.

So Hubby removed all the tile and rebuilt some of the wall. Then he prepared the wall for tile.

And ......

Hubby learned to install wall tile!

The thing that the BEFORE picture is lacking is a view of the NASTY green carpet that adorned this space. That came out, thank goodness! And Hubby also learned how to put down floor tile!

These are some of the AFTER's. I had to use wallpaper on the walls because the removal of the old wallpaper on our PLASTER walls was not going so hot. Our walls were in rough shape.

I used Beadboard wallpaper from Home Depot, as seen at Rhoda's here. And I used paintable wallpaper that looks like brush strokes from Lowe's above the chair rail. Is it still called chair rail if it's installed at 64"? Its not high enough to be picture rail.... hmm..

A close up of the brush stroke paper painted and the beadboard wallpaper. And honestly, I think it turned out really well. I did NOT want to use wallpaper, but I am surprisingly impressed with how well it turned out. I took a picture of a seam on purpose... can you see it?

I'd let you in on the paint color, but I can't. I confess. I shop the "OOPS" paint sometimes at Lowes or HD. And this I found a full gallon of Valspar satin in a brown color. The color was not labeled. I mixed it myself with some white satin I had on hand.

Total Expenditures:

LABOR......................$0 (I LOVE my handy teacher hubby with summers off!)

Drum Roll Please....

$1,122 to bring this little 1960's bathroom into the 21st century and fix a lot of the major issues it had going on...

Edited to Add: I'm linking up with Transformation Thursday at Gina's.

Homemade Applesauce Canned

2009-10-27T08:42:00.000-04:00

I bought two buschels of Cortland apples last weekend. Cortland apples make great applesauce. We have also made it with Monroe apples... not as tasty. Anyway, Hubby helps me with this task every year, but this year we found ourselves overcommitted with activities. So last Thursday night we started at 9:30pm (after Hubby got home from teaching a night class). We finished up at 1:30am and promptly went to bed!

We started by quartering the apples and placing them in stock pots with just a slight bit of water to boil down. No peeling, no coring, easy peasy... Only a slight bit of water to keep from burning to the bottom. But not too much or you'll end up with runny applesauce!

Perhaps the thing that makes this seemingly large task so super easy is this little machine. It's a food strainer by Villaware. I found it on Amazon about 3 years ago. This is the reason you don't need to peel or core anything. The boiled apples get dumped into the funnel on the top. Then we crank the apples through the strainer and the waste comes out one shoot, the sauce comes out the other shoot. Easy peasy...

This is Hubby's hand pouring the applesauce into the quart size jars. We just reuse the funnel from the strainer to make pouring less messy. I'd be interested in any other tips though, because this part is still messy. And apparently you need a bag of paperclips on the table as well to do this... hmm, not sure why those are there. The cup of coffee, however, is necessary if you're starting this at 9:30pm.

Then I skipped a few steps in photos, but you have to prepare the lids by soaking them in hot water. And the jars should be wiped down to make sure there isn't spilled applesauce all over them. I put them in the canner when it's hot, but not quite boiling. And when it comes to a boil, you boil for 15minutes. And thats it! See, easy peasy...

Canned yummy homemade applesauce. Two buschels made 27 quarts. My sister in law, who has 7 kiddos, does 80 quarts each year.

I'm linking up to DIY Day at Kimba's with this fairly easy peasy DIY project.

Desk Rehab - Procrastinators AFTER Party!

2009-10-20T01:34:00.000-04:00

I have to say that the accountability works. I was able to successfully complete this little project (that I have been putting off for weeks) in two short days. I suppose it was the task of sorting through & emptying out the ~~messy-beyond-all-reason~~ well used drawers that intimidated me and kept me from completing this project sooner. But I am very glad that I did.

Here again is the before......

And Here are a few of the afters .....

I sanded the whole thing down with a palm sander (LOVE that thing!) and painted her up with
Behr's Seaside Sand (LOVE this color!)

Then, I distressed her a bit. And I spray painted the handles with Krylon's oil rubbed bronze (as I was ~~forbidden~~ strongly encouraged by Hubby not to buy new drawer pulls) .

The paint and spray paint I had on hand, so they were FREE. The desk was part of a $70 bedroom set that we purchased, so how to put a price on that other than CHEAP...

And I'm linking this project up to Melissa's Procrastinator Party at The Inspired Room!

A Sign for a Coat Rack

2009-10-19T22:01:00.000-04:00

Signs seem to be popping up everywhere in decorating. I see them used all over blogland. I see them used in Potterybarn. So how happy was I when I spied this Maple House sign in the 2nd floor loft of our garage!! What is Maple House, you ask? I have no idea. I have no clue why the previous owners had this sign or what it was used for. But I made it into a coat rack and it now sits in our entryway. (Awaiting the Rustic Bench from PB for a mere $249 that I so long to have underneath my FREE coat rack ... but I will be longing for a long, long time)

First, I stained her all up with Minwax's dark walnut. I tried to deepen her tone with the dark walnut to age her just a bit. Then I tapped a small finish nail every so often to start the holes for some hooks.

The hooks I also found around this house in various closets. I simply screwed them into the starter holes that I made with the finish nails. Then I enlisted hubby to help me hang it on the wall. (It is quite solid and heavy!)

Total Cost: FREE!!!!

And I'm linking up to Kimba's DIY Day at ASPTL

and to Reinvented's Trash to Treasure Tuesday.

A Look back at a Summer Project

2009-10-18T22:03:00.000-04:00

When we moved into this house in December of 2008, we found a number of items left here by the previous owner. Some junk in the basement, some in the attic, and a lot of scrap wood and junky items in the loft above the garage... We continue to find more junk as we clean out various areas of this place.

One such treasure, found in our garage loft, was a vinyl patio furniture set. It included two chairs and a loveseat. The vinyl was in real shotty shape. It was torn in several places. You could feel the springs through the padding in the seats... but alas, we did not own any patio furniture.

Of course, in these pictures, you can't see the tears in the vinyl very well..... or the stickiness that seemed to be all over them...

So we tore off the teal vinyl, padding, and springs to reveal a seat and a back box frame attached to the metal arms and legs. Hubby simply used scrap wood (found also in the loft) and cut it into slats with a miter saw, and nailed the pieces to the existing frames.

Then I painted it up and stenciled some numbers on them. You'll see the chair here with my pillows made from double-sided placemats (found on clearance at Target last year).

I'm sharing this for MET Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. You want to see some talented decorating, go check out some of those projects!

Procrastinator's Party

2009-10-17T14:15:00.000-04:00

I know I'm like over a week late in joining up with Melissa's Procrastinator's Party here at The Inspired Room, but I procrastinated so long in creating a blog that I couldn't join up until now. So better late than never, right?

I have a desk that we purchased as part of a bedroom set. We got the entire set (double bed hb & fb, chest of drawers, dresser, and desk) for $70. The house that we purchased had an auction of all of it's contents. So, we got some furniture really cheap. It's all matchy matchy and not very pretty, but in time piece by piece, it will be. The desk we're using in our living room and it is making me crazy being all unfinished... I need the accountability of a linky party for this one or it may never get done.

Heres the desk in its unfinished status...

And a close up of the drawers. Oh yeah, I have one stipulation from my husband. No new hardware... which is a bummer because I'd LOVE to get rid of these handles and replace them with new. But it presents a unique challenge all the same.

So I'm looking forward to posting about the finished product. It's only been on my to-do list for 2 months now ...

Around the House

2009-10-13T13:17:00.000-04:00

We are living in a house that has the potential to be my dream home. It does have charm. It does have character. We've done a lot to highlight the charm and the character that it has, deep down. Deep deep down. And I'd like to document this journey of finding hidden potential in the not so obvious places.

So I was looking for some architectural black & white photos to put in big frames in our hallway. I was scouring the internet for prints I could purchase. Hubby, who is ~~cheap~~ always up for saving a buck and doing things himself, decided that we could take decent b&w photos ourselves.

He insisted that there were enough old architectural things to take photos of around our house and that hanging a photo of someone else's front door was not nearly as ~~cheap~~ cool as a photo of our own. It has a story. It's ours. And I had to admit, though not to him, that I agreed. Nonetheless, I doubted our little camera's abilities and our artistic vision, but they came out quite nicely. And they now adorn the once blank hallway wall. More on that later .....

I'm participating in my very first DIY Day over at Kimba's!