DREAM SIGN

This post is all about making a dream out of a disaster.

Lovely isn't it?  It wasn't always so.  It was born from a disaster.  
I had this fun little cabinet.  I got it at an antique store on sale for $20.00 and it really wasn't that great, but I fell in love with the door on it and used it for years.

I decided to use it in my new coastal themed bedroom, but it was going to have to be prettied up a little first.  I painted it with Annie Sloan Old Ochre Chalk Paint.  Two coats.  It was beautiful.  I gave it two coats of Miss Mustard Seed Clear Wax.  It was gorgeous.  I was buffing out the last coat when my table broke and the whole cabinet came crashing down onto my concrete garage floor.  That beautiful door broke.

I said a lot of swears.  Sam felt bad enough for me that he tried to fix it with some Gorilla Glue and clamps.

I was fearful that it wouldn't hold up to the pulling that a cabinet door would get.  I decided to touch up the damaged paint on the rest of the cabinet and use it without the door.  I couldn't toss the door though because I loved it so.  I decided to make a little sign out of it and maybe something to hang my robe and jammies on.
I had this metal sign that said "Dream" and I wired it onto the front.
I also had this awesome metal seahorse pull that I was going to use on the door anyway, but it was "chippy" and I wanted it bright and clean.  I gave it a coat of spray paint.

So began the bones of this new project.

I taped the edges and gave the border a quick coat of Annie Sloan "Provence".

 Then, I just left it out and stared at it for about 2 weeks.  I tried several things and settled on some beach glass, shells, starfish and glass stones - all attached with my trusty finger-burnin' hot glue gun.

I added a few hooks....in the wrong place, which led to adding a few more shells.  Finally, I was pretty happy with it and mounted it to my walk-in closet door.

I did salvage the rest of that cabinet, but that's a different post coming soon to a computer screen near you.
In the mean time, I'm enjoying my new robe hook/sign.  

Kind of goes with my beachy wreath don't ya think?

I have had a lot of fun making decor for my master bedroom...maybe too much fun.  As soon as I get the mate to my nightstand and paint it, I'll show you the rest.  In the mean time...I'm packing up my craft room and moving everything out of it because I'm getting all of my flooring replaced, except the kitchen.  That's right...all of that beautiful coastal cypress that was installed less than 5 months ago has to be replaced.  Installation failure.  Glad we had professionals do it because I would not want to have to fight that fight with the company myself.  So....replacement won't cost me anything, but can I just tell you what a pain in the butt packing everything up and moving it out is?  It seems like I just did that!  (Oh yeah....it's because I did.)  I know...first world problem, but still.  I can tell you that some swears were said over that issue as well. (My swear jar overfloweth.) Hope it ends as well as my cabinet door disaster.

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Renovation Update #6 - Ladder Legs and Roller Shoulders

My deadline has come and gone, so I just made myself a new one.  My friend Judy is coming on the 10th of April and if I have nothing else but  a couple of beds and a coffee maker in this house, we're staying there.  
So, some good stuff happened this week and I'm a happy girl.  I got my utility sink in the 1/2 bath.  I know I will use the heck out of this.  It's considered a mini utility tub, but it holds a 5 gal. bucket.  Why did I stick it in the 1/2 bath instead of the laundry room?  I have other plans for the extra space in the laundry room and I figure only Sam and I will use this bathroom that is just off of the garage.  Jacob is enamored with the pullout sprayer and has aimed it at me several times with a devilish twinkle in his eye.   

Most of my lighting is in...which makes painting much easier.  Sam and I both find it increasingly frustrating that you cannot paint out a shadow.  My pendant over the sink is my favorite and it may be the saving grace of that pass-through that I still don't love.

You'll be happy to know that I got that horrid peach paint re-tinted to the shade of tannish/beige that I wanted.  I painted an accent wall in a color that is kind of a brownish rust that I love...but more on that another time.

I was surprised that many of you didn't know you could get paint re-tinted.  In fact, you can even get old paint re-tinted.  Mark (yes, I'm on a first name basis with my paint guy) even told me to bring in any leftover paint and he would re-tint it to whatever color I desired.  Music to a crafters ears!  Keep in mind...a dark color cannot be tinted lighter.  A good paint guy can show you the possibilities.
The vanity in the master bath is primed and ready for paint as soon as the tile backsplash gets grouted.  Sam picked out the mirror and the lighting all by himself.  I think he did a great job.  Maybe next time I'll take a picture with the lights off so you can actually see how pretty they are.

Some grey happened on my kitchen wall.  It's dark, but my table that goes along side this wall is white and it's going to be perfect.

Most exciting of all to me is that my counter tops finally arrived...late on Friday of course, so they won't be installed until maybe Wednesday.  I know they look a little busy, but they are the only busy thing happening in this kitchen.  Everything else is relatively calm.  I took this picture late in the day when they were unloading them, so it's a bit shadowy.

What's left at this point?  Kitchen tile behind my counters and painting those cabinets.  (I'll admit I'm terrified to do it, which is why they look like this right now...just waiting for paint.)

My flooring is scheduled to be installed on the 31st, 1st and 2nd.  It's killer stuff...coastal cypress for the living room, hall, craft room and master bath.  Grey barn wood-ish Aqua-click for the kitchen, laundry and 1/2 bath.  Carpet for the remaining bedrooms and office.  The only floor that is not being replaced is the family room, which I may regret, but the money-bleeding must stop somewhere.
Some new doors have been ordered and should be in this week.  Finally, trim, which goes down after the floors are installed.  
Mostly I am so very happy to not be painting walls anymore.  I have had a serious case of "ladder legs" and Sam is suffering from "roller shoulders".  If you've ever painted a whole house, you know what these afflictions are.
On a completely different note.  My sister-in-law's goat had a baby last week.  So very cute...

And...last, but certainly not least...I managed to convince Cheryl to take pity on me and write another post, so please come back for yet another installation of "Cheryl Butts In" tomorrow.  
 

RENOVATION UPDATE #5 - Fail...and Fun

So....this happened.....

I could doctor this picture and make it clearer, but I can barely stand to look at it that long and it wouldn't make it any better.  Yeah...that is supposed to be a tan-ish color.  Um, no.  It is peach-ish.  It is ugly.  It will be gone today.  Just as soon as I go get another 4 gallons of something else.  To be fair, it wasn't that far off from the sample.  Sometimes it's hard to know what a whole wall of something will look like until you start painting.  On the other hand, I walked in the door and Sam was mixing it up and I stopped in my tracks. Neither of us liked it, and yet, I said, "Let's slap some up on the wall and see if it darkens as it dries."  Ugh.  If I had opened a can at the paint store, I would have instantly changed my mind, thus saving me the trip to town today.  But no....I dropped off my paint list that consisted of, as my friend Kirby would say, "skeighty-eight" gallons of paint for the guy to mix up, and took advantage of the fact that I was in town and went to lunch instead.  I came back by, picked up my paint and went about my business like nothing was wrong, completely unaware that I had this peach disaster sitting amongst the other gallons of paint....until yesterday.  Ugh.  Lesson learned...Open the paint up and look at it!!!
Fortunately, this also happened this weekend.....

I needed a day out.  A day away from renovation madness.  I called my friend Ciree and turns out, she was needing a day out as well.  We are famous for our marathon shopping and lunch excursions.  We've been practicing for twenty-something years.  How could you not love a friend who will try on a silly hat and stick her tongue out at you?
She is also very accommodating when I say, "Ciree, I want to make some word art in this style.  Will you hold this up so I can take a picture of it?"

If there was a sign that said, "no pictures", I ignored it didn't see it.  I made a few purchases and even got something on clearance to do an Easter/Spring project, because I have all kinds of spare time to craft...LOL!  Anyway, it was nice to get out and go somewhere besides the Home Depot or Lowes.  I never find fun stuff to take pictures of in those places.  You'd think for the money I'm giving them these days, they would have a craft aisle just for me.
So...I'm off to the paint store to get new paint today and see if they can re-tint that peachy disaster to some colors I can use in my crafting projects later.  Wednesday, Cheryl will be back for her final installment of "Cheryl Butts In", unless she takes pity on me because I'm so far behind and will do a few more posts.  Thank you all again for making her feel so welcome here!

RENOVATION UPDATE #4.....There is paint.

Before I give you a brief latest update on my renovation, I would like to thank all of you for making my friend Cheryl in Wisconsin feel welcome here on my blog.  You guys are the best! I know she responded to every comment and if you didn't see your response, you should go back and take a look.  She's so funny and she had a blast doing it.  She'll be back for another round of "Cheryl Butts In" tomorrow.
Meanwhile...on Mark Street, paint is finally happening.  Whew..I am so sick of primer...15 gallons of it, that getting some paint on the walls was nirvana.  Of course, now I'm getting tired of painting.
Remember my dream bathroom picture?  This one...

Well, I'm getting there.  I painted my ceiling that beautiful blue, my walls are now white and a light/exhaust fan is installed.  My flush mounted medicine cabinets are in and  the lights above are wired, but not installed.  I also have my light above my shower in.  Grout will be happening this week and then the sinks and toilet will be set.  

I have to tell you, when Sam was painting that ceiling I kept hearing a lot of "Oh gee"...and "Oh I don't know about this".  I finally put down my paint brush and went to look.  When I turned the corner and saw that blue ceiling, I just fell in love!  This is my first time ever painting blue in a room and I loved it so much that I painted my bedroom that color too.

It's kind of freaking Sam out, but yet, he paints on singing cheerfully.  I told him, "If the color makes you sing while you paint, how can it be bad?"  The color appears a little more pale in the bedroom because it's such a big room.  I did leave one accent wall white.  All of the trim and the walk-in closet will be white as well.
Because I loved this color so much, I also added one accent blue wall in my craft room.  I'm kind of excited about this because I was having a terrible time picking a color for it and just went with white. (I'm such a safety girl.)  A little bit of that blue will surely inspire me to be a crafting genius, right?

Okay, I have to stop with the blue.  Even I know that.  It's possible that I was so sick of primer that I got a little too excited with an actual color.  Everything else up to this point has been painted white.  Yeah..painting white after 2 weeks of painting primer is hardly exciting.  I painted my laundry room white, figuring I could choose a clever accent color through accessories.

I did the same thing with the 1/2 bath there behind the laundry room.  I envision myself making all of these wonderful colored accessories in my new craft room.  Oh, and Sam had a pretty good idea for that 1/2 bath.  He wanted to put a utility sink in there instead of a regular sink and vanity.  Since it's off of the garage and we are probably the only ones who will use it,  I thought it was a great idea.  I ordered this one from Amazon before he changed his mind.  I also ordered a faucet with a pull out sprayer.  I know I'll be so glad we did it, even if it's a little unconventional.  Surely I can cute up the front of it with some awesome decal or stencil, don't you think?

The family room also got white paint...because I still can't figure out what color I want in there and I've used enough blue.  I want an accent color on the wall that has the pass through, but at the moment, I'm undecided...so white it is.

Oh and remember this pink room from hell???

Yeah.  Several coats of primer and a couple of coats of paint later and it's also white.  Big surprise. (What is wrong with me?) I kind of want to paint another accent wall, but can you have too many accent walls in a house?  Somebody please answer that question for me.  Jacob wanted the room to be red. I just can't do it.  Not even an accent wall.  I can maybe do a red plaid bedspread and a few red accessories, but I do NOT like red at all. (He's 6 and I think this is the second time I've had to tell him "no".)  Right now, he's just happy that it's not pink and there is no longer a toilet sitting in the middle of his room.

So...we are done painting white...and blue.  Next time, a little update on the living room.  Think Brown Sugar.  The grey and white kitchen will apparently be last as my custom counter is still not in.  I did stop by yesterday to check on it.  They were closed due to icy weather, however, I got excited when I noticed the pallets that counters are packed in sitting in their back lot.  Oh yeah...they are huge.  I have a plan for mine already.  (See?  That blue accent wall in my white craft room has already improved my mojo!)
Well, that's all for now, except I'll remind you again that Cheryl will be back with another fabulous post tomorrow.  Want a sneak peak??

RENOVATION UPDATE #3...Primer Overload

I have "primer brain".  Seriously...I have laid more than 15 gallons of primer in the house we are renovating.  But worse than that...I have "sheet rock dust head".  Oh yes...I wore a mask, but really, that stuff gets everywhere and you can't help but breathe some.  So...pictures of rooms that have primer are boring..so I'll just share a few that might show you some of the more interesting stuff.
I'm starting with the bathroom because well...I'm so sore from priming that I really want to soak in my new bathtub.  It needs grout, but the tile is there.  You can see in the bottom picture that this is where the crazy long vanity with one small sink in it was.

This is where the two single sinks will go with the built in medicine cabinet/mirrors above...

 I'll remind you that we took one big bathroom and two big closets and made two bathrooms out of it all.   There is tile on the floor..needs grout, but we're getting there.

Let's move to the kitchen because my new cabinets are finally up on the wall and waiting for paint.

You can see that I opted for some oversized drawers and less cabinets below.  This was suggested to me by the cabinet makers wife.  Those drawers are rated for 100lbs each, so my dishes will fit in them.  Yep...no more reaching up for the heavy stuff.  She's a smart woman.  Also, you can see that bump-out in my wall which is where the microwave will go so it doesn't take up counter space.  Who do I have to thank for that brilliant idea?....Suzan at Simply Vintageous....by Suzan. You can see her post about it HERE.

See that hole in the top of my kitchen ceiling?  That's for the stainless steel hood vent.  When we gutted the kitchen, we moved the stove over about 4 inches.  Turns out when the hole was cut to place the vent hood pipe....yeah...there was a joist there.  So...a new joist had to be built and put in before we could cut through the old one.  Some swear words were said.

Here is the other side of my kitchen with the pass through that is still giving me fits...

Really...I wish I had just sheet rocked that thing in.  Because that used to be an exterior window..it is a little low.  Because it is a little low, I had to have custom counter tops made in order to accommodate my tile design.  Turns out those custom countertops were a little more custom than I had planned as some of the material was special order.  Now, I'm behind schedule.  I do not love that pass through.  I still haven't figured out what to do with it.  More swears have been said.  On the bright side, that doorway goes to my laundry room and, at the suggestion of a worker, it will be a swinging door.   How cool is that???!!! Lets look at a before pic of this kitchen.

You can see that I took out the soffits and the crazy 1/2 wall paneling.  I also moved the dishwasher to the left of the sink and the fridge to the right.  I totally eliminated upper cabinets on this side and opted for open shelving.  Also, we removed the ugly wood on the pass through from hell and just sheet rocked it. 

Here is the shower in the new master bath....

It's still a little dark in there.  I love that you can sit in this shower.  A tip from my plumber...put at least one row of tile on the outside of your shower walls.  He said he has had to replace more sheet rock on showers because they get water just outside the shower.  Made sense to me!

Remember this crazy arched window that was stupid expensive to replace in my master bedroom?

It's gone.  All new windows and now it looks like this...

I promise you my pocket book is happier now.

I stole the bedroom that had two windows in it for my craft room.  Now I'm trying to decide whether or not to put a desk/office area in that closet or make it be a closet again.  What do you think?

I'm still daydreaming about this funky family room with the low ceiling on one end.  It's all primed and ready for some paint.  I really need to make up my mind.

That is my dishwasher and stove sitting in there covered with plastic.  You can see all of the sheet rock dust on the floor by looking at the edge of the wall under the window where my butt sat while trimming with primer.  I swept it up twice before that.  No wonder my head is stopped up.  You can also see the pass through from hell in the picture on the right, as well as the entryways on each side of my kitchen.  Just another thing that makes me crazy.  Seriously...when you walk in my front door, this is what you see...two big openings.  One into the kitchen and the next one into the family room.

I think it makes me so crazy because the opening into the family room is bigger than the one into the kitchen.  It would be more aesthetically pleasing if it were the opposite.  I'm not changing it.

Speaking of the living room...it has become our current break area...

See that card table and chairs?  That's about the only place in the whole house to set anything down on except my bathtub and no one would dare set anything on that.  I'm looking forward to getting some counter tops so everything doesn't have to be set on the floor. We had to empty the whole house out to get rooms ready to prime and all of it got put in the garages.  This is garage #1.  You can see the wide opening to garage #2 on the right of the picture.  That big blue dumpster is going away this week. Yay!

This is garage #2.  See all of the junk in the middle?  That is the old heating ductwork.  It is dangerously close to my beautiful white couch which is undercover just beneath the window. 

Yes, the new heating system was an unbudgeted surprise.  Swear words.  The old heating system was so inefficient that the sheet rocker guys mud froze overnight.  More swear words.  But we got a good one and it's a Cadillac when it comes to heating systems, so I'm glad for it. 

See that switch on the upper right of the unit?  It shuts the power off to the furnace so if it ever needs repairs, the repair man can just flip that switch and work on it without cutting power to anything else in the house.  It's the little things.

Finally...here is the other end of garage #2, which will be Sam's workshop.  I'm excited for him to have it.  It's a big space and I know he will be building me wonderful things in it! LOL!

Okay...I'm tired of posting pictures and really all that's left is the laundry room, a half bath, Jacobs room and an office.  All primed and ready for paint.  Consider yourself updated.  

Now, while I'm gearing up for a couple of weeks of painting and then moving, I'm going to let someone else take over my blog.  Yep...I've got an intruder coming to my blog and I'll introduce you to her next week.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, so stay tuned!