On an Island

Once upon a time I saw this idea on pinterest of how I could bling-out our island by adding some inexpensive beadboard.  Fast forward to having a carpenter in the house when we did our floors.  And nicely asking if he could cut the beadboard and trim I bought for $40 and put them up for us...(because he would know what he was doing and it would take him all of 10 minutes to do so). 

The island was only covered in a plain white laminate before...  

(And this is before I switched out the handles.)

    

After about $45 worth of beadboard and pieces of trim, some caulk and paint, here it is now...  

I love how it turned out!

New Deck!

To sum up a long story (2+ years in the making), we just replaced the (damaged) floorboards on our deck after sending letter after letter to the supplier to honor a warranty (again, long story).  Anyway, we are glad that is all in the past and so VERY grateful to Ryan's uncle who replaced everything while we were at the beach no less!  He did an amazing job and we are so very thankful for his skilled help!

The floorboards and facade of the deck that we inherited were warped and were badly disintegrating.  We were beginning to feel it was a safety issue and not just a cosmetic one.

Friends generously helped Ryan demo the old floor.  (It always looks worse before it looks better!)

Through the window screen.  Some joists needed replaced as well. 

And then we came from the beach to this!

Mud from our amazing workers!  

We are so very thankful for our friends and family for helping is with this huge project!!  We have fallen in love with our deck all over again!

Lofty Loft

When we bought our house almost 4 years ago, our "wish list" included an upstairs family room/loft/bonus room.  We were lucky to find a house with that desired extra space and use this area more than we ever thought we would.  Fast forward to me shopping at Joann's several months ago and finding fabric that would tie our red couches (looking back we should have gone with something a bit more, ahem, neutral) in with the gold walls.  (Our loft has a cathedral ceiling...that of course extends over the stairs = a lot of tedious painting involved that we are not interested in doing at the moment...)   

Anyway, I bought fabric several months ago (then had a baby and took a break from any house projects!) and finally finished making curtains over the weekend.  

Sadly, this is the only "before" picture I have.  The curtains the previous owners left behind were a bit too floral for me.  And they had cherries on them.   

4 year-old Clare 10 days after we moved in.

And here are the curtains I made!

I made them the same way I made the ones in the girls' room and lined them with a cheap-o white sheet on clearance at Walmart.  I'm quite pleased with them if I do say so myself!  (Ryan was pretty impressed because I may have a history of making curtains that don't quite fit a window as well as they should...but not the case here!)

 We also switched this shelf out of the girls' room to make room for Ellen's new dresser.  Jude told me he likes having books on a shelf in the loft because it's like we have a library.  We're sophisticated like that.

(Print from The Wheatfield by Katie Daisy.)

And my favorite picture of big sister Clare holding newborn baby Jude.  (I'll be honest, distance was a necessity as there's some dusting that needs to be done around here...)  

Loft curtain mission complete!

A Tale of 2 Chairs...

Every so often I run through our local Goodwill.  It's always hit or miss, but several months ago I came across two club-style chairs.  And they were orange.  Very orange.  They were, however, in good condition (despite being orange) and I knew they were the perfect size and shape for our family room.  And even better, they were $9 each!  Fast forward several months and I finally had them slipcovered.

Before!

ORANGE!

After!

A nice green ticking stripe.  The place I had these done really exceeded my expectations, I am one happy customer!

Linking here.  

The "Big Girl" Room

We are wrapping up some small projects around the house before this baby makes his debut.  Ellen is officially out of the crib and in a big girl bed!  (The transition actually couldn't have gone any easier....maybe because I always prepare for the worst!?)  She moved into Clare's room and is on the bottom bunk while Clare is enjoying oldest-sisterhood and reigning on the top bunk bed.  

The room used to have this built-in bench in this alcove.  It was actually at an odd height to really sit on.  It did have storage underneath, but we really never used it for anything.  So all in all, it was kind of taking up a large chunk of space in the room.  

We took it out...

...then painted, I extended the diamonds all the way to the floor, and added in baseboards.  

And here it is all finished...

We knew the room would feel more open with the (large) bunk bed tucked to the side, but underestimated just how much bigger the room would feel!       

The bed no longer blocks the window (like it did here before)... 

and there's a lot more floor space to play.

Overall, operation big-girl room has been a success!!

My Mini Kitchen Update

I was never a huge fan of the hardware on our kitchen cabinets.  New countertops and a backsplash are in the eventual future, but this upgrade was inexpensive, easy, and made a difference.

The old hardware was a bit too fancy for my left-brain and the silver kind of got lost in the big picture.  I like the simplicity of the new black pulls and the way they stand out.    

Jude helped me open the 24 new pulls...and then we waited another week for the remaining 6 since I forgot to include the island cabinets in my final count...

And here's a side-by-side before and after:

blah

wow!

The forgotten island....

Big impact for a small price.  

Counters and backsplash coming sometime this century....

Happy Monday! 

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

My Kind of Weekend Project

I recently tackled a very small weekend project that I had been procrastinating doing for several months.  Mostly because DIY is usually not our thing and I was somewhat intimidated...

I purchased these frames months ago (before the current school year pictures had been taken, let alone developed and our orders returned to us!).  I wanted to hang them going up the stairs but didn't want more nail holes in the wall than I needed.  

This video tutorial helped me get started.   

I made templates and measured and taped and measured again and re-taped.  

After getting the spacing right, I got out my hammer and nails (triple-checking everything as I went), and they went up with no issues!  Hooray! 

Ellen especially loves seeing her picture on the wall.  Let's hope she's not so conceited that it makes her fall down the steps!

Bathroom Update...and Something for You, too!

A few months ago, we painted our downstairs half-bathroom grey.  

Then we framed the builder-grade mirror.  

Most recently we (finally) hung some new things behind the toilet...  

The shelf is from Hobby Lobby (purchased with a 40% off coupon of course!) and the

print is a custom 5x7 from Delivered by Danielle on etsy.  

The best part about the new decor is that Jude really is washing his hands without being reminded every time he uses the restroom.  He told me he doesn't need me to remind him because now he has the sign to tell him what to do.  Score!  

And here's a score for you, too.  Delivered by Danielle is offering my readers 20% off an order through January 31, 2013!  Just use the code "LIKEHOME20" for your discount.  She has lots of cute prints available.  View her etsy shop here.     

Christmas Fireplace

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care...

I bought picture frame stocking holders for Clare and Jude's stockings 3 years ago at Target. But was not able to find more in my price range (2 for $15, not $30 each) until Target had them again this year - hooray!  

Each frame holds a picture of the stocking's namesake on their first Christmas.  

I'm also loving the lanterns filled with ornaments on the fireplace hearth.  My mother-in-law gifted them to me (one this summer and one at the office Christmas party - my husband works for the family business).  And I'm very excited that this year Ellen is old enough not to mess with them and has completely ignored them!  Hooray again! 

(Originally found this idea here.)   

And our basket of Christmas books rounds things out.

Have a great weekend!