Tuesday, May 31, 2011

DIY Ikea Rast, DIY LACK Picture Ledges, DIY Everywhere

Happy Monday.....er Tuesday!

As I said on Friday, this weekend was full for me. With my husband and daughters out of town I had to get busy. The count down is here since the movers are scheduled for Friday (excuse me while I scream!!!!). We still have to paint and touch up the ceiling from any patch work, hang additional lights, seal the floors, convert a dresser into a bathroom vanity, grout and caulk the kitchen, caulk the floor boards, and paint some floor boards and patching on walls . Along with this are the MANY other less important projects but still high on the priority list such as order and hang blinds, cut and hang curtains, get our cabinet doors for the last missing cupboard, make my DIY drift wood mirror, and just simply get in there are start to put all the pieces together. Who's with me?!

Enough about my anxiety, let's talk about this weekend. I had to come in, roll up my sleeves and get down and dirty with the new crib. That meant literally getting on my hands and knees and giving it a MAJOR bath. I also spent time getting all the little details together such as hanging door knobs, changing the stock white bi-fold door knobs with upgraded nice brushed metal ones which required ab an hour and a half at Home Depot trying to get screws and washers to make them fit. Amazingly enough different screws only work for different knobs and I ran into one screw being too short and the 2" one being too long and the knobs wouldn't fasten so I had to then find metal washers to close the gap. Seem silly? Well all of these little projects take up tons of time. Here are a few pics from my holiday bliss:



Here are the knobs. Notice the one with the big green "X" well sometimes we have an oops moment. Mine came from trying to muscle a screw wrongly into a hole and the hole won. There's no way that thing is going in or out so I decided the only other fix is liquid nails. Please, please, please work because I'm pretty sure my husband won't like changing out the bi-fold doors all because I can't be patient enough to drill the hole properly. Patience is a virtue, yes it is.

Below are my DIY IKEA RAST Nightstands


They start by being a raw wood when you assemble them as shown above.



Next all the drawers get a shiny, high gloss coat of white paint. Let them dry, sand and reapply. I did this 3 times and I used a high gloss door trim paint. Really any will work, but keep in mind the wood soaks up the paint, and the sanding keeps the surface smooth. I used a small foam roller for an even coating.

Next, I gave the outside of the RASTs a light staining. There are so many wonderful stain colors out there. I wanted mine to be lighter, but you can really play around with this. I used a small sponge brush. You would apply more coats as needed, but the more stain you apply, the darker your wood.




When the stain had dried I applied 2 coats of lacquer to the stained parts of my night stands. I would not do this to the drawers because it can yellow the white, and will ruin the look (ask me how I know this!).




I did this project while sharing wine with a good friend.


I  ordered the knobs here knobs, and love them! You will need 12 knobs.

Here are my finished RAST night stands.



Here are some pictures of our kitchen in progress. We finally installed the stone back splash, Yaaay!





Here was a quick and easy DIY IKEA LACK shelf project that I completed.



 I took 3- 75" LACK shelves from Ikea and went to Home Depot. I bought 3 pre-made and pre-painted moldings for a  cost of under $4 ea and some liquid mails clear adhesive. I had the wood cut at Home Depot minus an inch at both ends and I simply glued them together. What I like about this idea is that once they go up my pictures can safely lean against the wall without sliding off, and there is also room to display things in front of the ledges which will give me some diversity in my display- score!


Here is the finished project.



And here is a quick sneak peek down our hall in to the bedrooms. Things are coming along.








Our house is coming along, but there's still so much to do!

Monday, May 30, 2011

House Tour, White and Inspiring

Happy Monday, though today is a holiday I wanted to take a minute and post this amazing house from house beautiful that I find to be so bright and fresh and inspiring. It goes to show you that white isn't boring if done right which is just what I intend to show in my own home.

I will be spending my day yet again at the house where I've been everyday until the night over this weekend. Since I have no furniture there right now and the husband and kids are in Orlando I have been working uninterrupted armed with my magic erasers and spray paint. On the list are cleaning, hanging doors and knobs, putting up lighting, replacing boring bi-fold door knobs with nice metal knobs, taking a razor blade to all surfaces and window seals to get rid of any paint droppings and tackling numerous DIY projects. Come Monday I will have some major things to show you including a nice DIY project (or three) and I think you will love the results as much as I do.

I hope you sit back, relax and enjoy your break~



Saturday, May 28, 2011

Weekend Inspiration, Curtains Hung Around The Bed

Good morning, I'm up and getting a running start. So many things to do at the house, and I'm kind of excited to get there because it was finally cleaned which means IT"S NOT SO DIRTY ANYMORE, YAAAAAY! I will be taking pictures for you, and as soon as the travertine floors get sealed we will start moving in all our goods which will make this house our home.
Even with that said though I can't help but wish to stay in bed lingering with whatever plays on Bravo, and just taking a day to do nothing! Is that bad? I mean nothing at all. Here are a few of the dreamiest rooms that inspire me today, and that my friends is where I wish I was. There is just something romantic and blissful about a beautiful canopy bed that make you never want to leave it. I hope you enjoy your weekend~





Friday, May 27, 2011

Let's Get Jacked......Union Jacked That Is

Happy Friday!! I hope to have some really big things happening today and this weekend. The kitchen should be finished, and all floors, base boards and door frames should be complete. All patching of walls and most lighting fixtures hung. Overall I hope to be at a point of functionality with still a mile long to do list but major progress to report and share, and most of the really messy stuff out of the way (cross my fingers)...tehe

In the mean time I have to share with you my odd obsession with the Union Jack. No I've never traveled to London and no I have no specific ties to it, and I was also not obsessed with the royal wedding though I did watch it. I just simply love it and can't wait to find some how some way of using it in a room design similar to how I love cow hide rugs. Here are some pretty simple room inspirations with touches of the Union Jack in different textiles to illustrate its badness.







Tell me what you think, do you too share my love for the Union Jack or do you have a design love that you just can't get enough of?

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Picture Wall Vs Picture Ledges

I like organization in my home and with that comes the question of where I can hang all of my lovely pictures of family and friends without it looking cluttered and messy? For my home specifically I like having them on a big wall. In our old house I hung them gallery style and rotated them constantly. It was one of the things that I received the most compliments on. Personally though it would drive me crazy because the frames would tilt or slant and my eyes would zoom in with crazy laser vision and I would constantly have to fix them. For the new house I want to do something similar, however I will modify it and am down to either larger frames of the same size making it easier to keep them "perfectly" alined or  picture ledges so that I can lean them and rotate them without even touching or putting new holes in the walls. I am leaning towards 3 picture ledges, and am quite in love with the idea.

Here are some inspirations of both:








I would use actual photos instead of art, but I would mix some of that in too. I think either way it is just lovely.
What do you think, which one would you do?