Category Archives: DIY

Kids’ bathroom progress

Posted by Melissa in DIY and tagged with , , ,

 

One of the items on my New Year’s resolutions for the home is to finish the face lift of the kids’ bathroom. It already had one makeover three or four years ago, when I stripped the floral wallpaper, repainted the vanity, and changed the light fixture. Later I added a chair rail with hooks for towels and sewed a shower curtain. But once I added some colorful accessories, I decided that the wall color no longer worked.

ss104330

I bought a couple quarts of gray paint from the mistake bin at Home Depot ($2/quart for Behr Premium Plus), and along with a few tester pots I already had, I slapped several test swatches on the wall. I figured that would motivate me to get it painted. It didn’t motivate me as quickly as I thought it would (maybe because I enter only to turn off the light, flush the toilet, and pick up wet towels). But yesterday I finally spent an hour prying off the shoe molding (someone put silicone caulk on it that paint won’t adhere to, so it needs to be sanded and repainted) and putting a first coat of paint on the walls.

The paint is darker than I first envisioned, but I think I like it. (It’s called Heather Gray by Benjamin Moore, according to the label on the can.) I have white beadboard wallpaper to put under the chair rail, so along with the vanity and all the white tile, there is plenty of contrast. I’ve been saving a stack of the kids’ artwork to display on the wall above the chair rail, and I’d like to put two floating shelves over the toilet.

Later this year, I hope we can have an electrician update the wiring in the bathroom and raise the light fixture several inches, so it isn’t sitting against the mirror. Then I’d like to frame the mirror, probably following these instructions.

I’m excited! I plan to finish painting today, and follow through with the wallpaper over the weekend. It will be my first attempt at wallpaper, but it’s only half of one short wall. Tomorrow might involve a mad dash to Ikea for some shelves. While I’m there, I might pick up some legs for the computer table for the living room. It’s so gloomy outside that the prospect of completing a project inside makes me very happy.

Are you in the middle of any DIY projects?

 

Garage, girl’s room, and plenty of recycling

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, DIY, Organizing and tagged with , ,

Clearing one area in the house makes me long for a magic wand to zap away all the other messes, visible and invisible. Very soon–maybe today!–I’m going to clean out the computer armoire in the living room. It’s full of old Christmas cards, empty printer ink cartridges and defunct computer games that won’t play on our computer.

Over the weekend, back when it was 47 degrees (and before the thermometer plummeted to 3–have I mentioned how climate change is beginning to feel so immediate and scary?), we did the garage cleaning we should have done in the fall. Hanging the bikes, collecting the outdoor toys, putting garden tools away in the shed, and sorting the pile of recycling that had accumulated since Christmas. Now the second car fits in the garage, making the Hub’s mornings slightly less chilly.

I also dealt with the large pile of Christmas boxes and gift wrap in the basement. All the boxes and packaging to recycle went on the curb, all the reusable wrapping got folded and put away in the proper place. Yesterday I even took a trunk full of plastic grocery bags to the recycling bin at the grocery store. For people who usually use reusable grocery bags, I don’t know why we had so many. Usually isn’t the same as always, apparently.

The Hub also dragged the 8′ x 10′ rag rug (possibly originally from Pottery Barn) I bought on Craigslist for Miss Seven’s room to the laundromat. He brought it home, clean but wet, and we hauled it to the basement and draped it over every spare chair and stool to dry. Three days later, I took it up two flights of stairs (dry, it was much lighter), rearranged all Miss Seven’s furniture, and installed the clean rug. Now I’m getting motivated to get the brown dresser down to the basement so I can begin the process of stripping and restaining it. (Hot pink! I mean, “Sangria.”)

What else? I got out my tube of epoxy and glued the casters back on the Hub’s reject Ikea office chair. It still doesn’t roll very well, but the casters don’t fall out and it works well at my kitchen desk where I have no need to roll, anyhow. It has lumbar support! My back approves.

It all felt so productive, so I looked at my New Year’s resolutions. Surely I could cross something off the list. January is nearly over! Alas. We did make progress on Miss Seven’s room, but that’s not going to be finished quickly. I have seven more days. Which project should I choose?

New Year’s Resolutions

Posted by Melissa in DIY, Organizing, thoughts and tagged with ,

I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. A list of things I ought to improve about myself that will mock me when I find it balled up in the back of a drawer in November? No, thank you. But today, as I caught up with the hundreds of posts in my Google Reader, I discovered that several bloggers had made lists of resolutions for their home. That seems nice and concrete to me, a list of things that, once achieved, I can cross off and pat myself on the back.

So here, in no particular order, are my 12 resolutions for our home in the new year. Sure, there are plenty of other projects bouncing around in my brain (oh disorganized pantry and sticky cabinet doors), but I think committing to crossing one off the list each month is enough for me. As they say, anything else is gravy.

2013 Resolutions

  • Paint and paper the kids’ bathroom; replace the shoe moulding; add floating shelves (bonus points: raise the light fixture and frame the mirror)
  • Organize the tools in the garage
  • Clean out the laundry room
  • Replace the computer armoire with a simple desk in the living room (maybe a DIY with an old door and some IKEA table legs)
  • Continue the landscaping project–at the very least, the vegetable garden and compost pile
  • Spackle and touch up/finish paint all over the house
  • Figure out two comfortable reading chairs and lighting in the living room
  • Refinish or paint the extra kitchen barstools
  • Cut down the rest of the old shrubs around the driveway
  • Patch the concrete under the garage door
  • Organize basement sewing area and kids’ craft area
  • Paint, refinish dresser and redecorate Miss Seven’s room

 

Do you have any home-related New Year’s resolutions?

A little of this and a little of that: Annoying household repairs

Posted by Melissa in DIY and tagged with , ,

I was going to tell you all about my holiday cookie plan, and find out if you have any great cookie suggestions that I should try this year. But I’m going to save that for tomorrow. Today is all about finishing a few jobs around the house that have been bothering me. It even involves a trip to the hardware store, so I’m going to make a list and actually consult it while in the store. Revolutionary, I know.

Here’s the plan:

1. Replace the set screw in the kids’ bathroom toilet paper holder. The original screw fell out and disappeared, and the whole thing keeps threatening to fall down.

2. Install the closet door knobs already on the master bedroom and linen closet doors. I’ve had these for…a year? Not too long ago I bought the correct size screws, so I have no more excuses.

3. Finally, I have vowed to anchor the very tall china cabinet to the wall, for the safety of both my children and the china. This story on the Today Show this morning put me over the edge. The cabinet used to be anchored (especially when we had toddlers in the house), but when we renovated and rearranged the room, I failed to anchor it properly. It’s an annoying project: I have to remove everything from the cabinet, get the big ladder (the step ladder is too short), and pull the cabinet away from the wall to install the bolt (the cabinet comes so close to the ceiling that there isn’t room to maneuver the drill).

4. If I successfully complete the first three projects, I might treat myself to a fun project: spray painting some pinecones gold. It’s time to put away the plastic pumpkin that’s been lingering on the sideboard, and we have a surfeit of pinecones littering our yard. I think a basket of gold pinecones will make a nice wintery decoration.

What do I need to buy? The set screw, some wallpaper paste (so I have no more excuses to put off the larger project of redecorating the bathroom), and gold spray paint. Oh, and eggs. We keep forgetting to buy eggs.

I’ll report back on my progress. It’s going to be riveting.

Covering a headboard

Posted by Melissa in Design, DIY, Kids and tagged with

Since Little Four moved out of the crib (about two years ago, now) and into a twin bed, I’ve been on the look out for a cheap headboard for his room. You don’t really need a headboard, but it seems to finish a bedroom (and keep those metal bed frames from rolling all over the floor). I picked up a wooden bed frame from Freecycle at one point, intending to paint it, but soon realized that it was just too big for such a small room. (I think it had been the top bunk from one of those twin-over-full bunk beds.) It didn’t take me too long to pass it on to another freecycler.

Then early this fall, I spent a couple of weeks cruising the garage sales in my neighborhood. I happened across a multi-family sale full of old furniture, tools, linens, and vintage Pyrex and Tupperware. I found this little vinyl upholstered headboard irresistibly priced at $1. It even had a plastic bag with four bolts taped onto the back.

The shape was nice and the height was good, but the vinyl was terrible. I think my grandma had kitchen chairs upholstered in something similar. It was yellowed and ugly, but there were no rips and no funny smells, and the legs seemed to be made of sturdy oak.

Once I got it home, I started shopping for fabric to reupholster it. I wanted something neutral, sturdy and not too precious–this is a little boy’s room, after all. I had nearly settled on a navy corduroy, when I remembered an old blue and white ticking stripe shower curtain I’d been saving to repurpose in some way. Neutral, sturdy, and FREE.

I thought about adding piping, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. I did use a double layer of batting (which I already had) to add extra cushion and soften the edges of the existing vinyl piping. The project was as simple as cutting the batting and curtain big enough to wrap around the headboard, and securing it all with a staple gun. I tried to pleat the corners nicely and make sure the stripes stayed vertical.

So for one dollar, Little Four has a soft headboard, and we have nice place to lean when we read bedtime stories. It was getting crowded in the rocking chair.

Homemade Halloween costumes

Posted by Melissa in Crafts, DIY, Kids and tagged with , , , , ,

I’m the first to admit that I don’t get that into Halloween. I don’t keep bins of Halloween decor in the basement and I still haven’t hung the single string of ghost lights that the kids love so much. Carving pumpkins is about as crazy as it gets. In fact, I get annoyed just thinking about the glut of candy that the kids will bring home next week. Candy that I will have to police and hide and manage its consumption. Lest you think I am some kind of Halloween Grinch, let me assure you that I let the older kids regulate their own sugar intake. They eat a few pieces a day and make it last until Thanksgiving. But Little Four has no such restraint and will inhale as much in a sitting as he can get his grubby hands on. The fallout is not pretty.

However, I do enjoy getting a little crafty with Halloween costumes. Nothing too elaborate, but if we can make a costume at home in a reasonable amount of time for less than it would cost to buy one, I’m in. It’s a great opportunity for me to use my haphazard sewing skills. No need to fuss with patterns or perfect fit. The kids don’t care if seams are puckered or the hem is crooked. I hunt around for some simple instructions and then wing the rest.

This year, Miss Seven is dressing up as a black cat. She suggested recycling the black witch’s robe that I made her last year into a tunic to wear over black leggings. Perfect–didn’t even have to buy any new material. I cut it shorter and fashioned a belt with a cat’s tail attached. I also attached some felt ears to a headband. On Halloween we’ll draw some whiskers on her face (and make sure she’s wearing a warm black sweater under her costume when she goes trick-or-treating).

After some conversations with his grandpa, Little Four settled on Frankenstein as his costume. I found a tutorial for this wonderful Frankenstein hat, which was not difficult at all. Cheap, too–what little fabric I had to buy cost me less than $3. You could even hand stitch it if you don’t have a sewing machine. I found some spare hex nuts floating around the house, so I stitched those on instead of trying to make bolts out of fleece. As soon as I finished it, Little Four put on his Frankenstein hat and wore it through an entire piano lesson and several hours of play. We’ll add some green face paint and some ragged clothes for Halloween. He’s already mastered the monster walk.

Have you gotten crafty for Halloween?

Painting oak trim and doors

Posted by Melissa in DIY and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I know some people think it’s sacrilege to paint over wood trim, but I feel fully justified in this case. Here’s the deal: Most of the doors and trim in our house were painted white by previous owners. Our kitchen cabinets and crown molding are white. But in a few spots–most notably the foyer, hallway and family room–there was newer yellow oak trim and hollow-core slab doors.

This isn’t lovely original millwork that ought to be preserved. I assume these were added when the hardwood floor was replaced at some point, because they don’t match the original baseboards and trim upstairs. Unfortunately, these spaces flow right in to the living room and kitchen, where the trim is white. So we’ve lived with all this strange conflicting trim–some of it even on the same wall!–for five years. It hurt my eyes.

Oak trim around the white sidelights and black front door. Too many finishes!

A few weeks ago, I finally got out the paintbrush and began on the trim in the foyer. Today I’m priming (maybe I’ll get to a coat of paint) the trim and three doors (pantry, bathroom and basement) in the hallway. For the foreseeable future, we’re leaving the family room alone. The room is more self-contained, so the conflicting finishes don’t stand out so much.

Finished front door and baseboards.

This is still a work in progress. I’m reasonably confident I’ll finish the painting this week, but I still need to remove the closet doors so I can paint the inside of the door frame. I would also like to add trim to the slab doors, like this project I found on Pinterest.

Like most of you, I don’t have great swaths of time to work on these projects. Just 30 minutes here and there, between writing projects, laundry, supervising homework, chauffeur duty, and today, a sick child home from school. Too often I put things off because I don’t think I’ll have enough time to complete them. But usually, if I just start something, it doesn’t take very many of those small pockets of time to complete it. And the results are worth it.

One door primed, one to go.

If you’re tackling a project like this yourself, you might want to know what products I’m using. Even though the oak has a glossy coat of polyurethane on it, I’m not doing any sanding. I wiped everything down with a liquid deglosser, then used one coat of primer. Two coats of good quality interior semi-gloss (we’re using Benjamin Moore’s base white color), and it’s done. I’ve painted some trim without using the deglosser first, and it required at least two extra coats of paint, so I’d definitely recommend it.

Already, the streaky coat of primer on those doors has brightened up the dark hall. I’m off to prime one more, and tomorrow I’ll do a little more.

Primer done! Tomorrow: paint.

Big girl’s bedroom inspiration

Posted by Melissa in Design, DIY, Kids and tagged with , , ,

I’m thrilled to report that Miss Seven’s obsession with all things pink has run its course. She doesn’t hate pink, but these days she’s more likely to choose blue or purple as her favorite color, and–get this!–her favorite sweater is charcoal gray. So a bedroom makeover is on the horizon. If you know Miss Seven, you know that although she’s incredibly quiet, she is not without opinions. Very Firm Opinions. I knew I couldn’t get away with redesigning her room myself and springing it on her. Instead, I’ve been using Pinterest to collect ideas to run by her. If she doesn’t like it, I remove it from the board, and slowly we’re narrowing down a vision of her new room.

Here’s the before picture!

The palette we’ve chosen has pale aqua walls, with pops of bright pink and yellow and plenty of white in the furniture and linens. Other changes include:

  • a bigger dresser (she’s inherited my old one, and we’re going to strip it and stain it a dark pink)
  • a reading nook (yellow wicker chair with bright cushions and maybe her canopy around it)
  • a sturdier nightstand with storage
  • a different headboard (probably white)
  • a larger area rug (I found a large rag rug in multicolored pastels on Craigslist)
  • a bigger book case and a large pin board for her art
  • declutter and rearrange

As usual, our budget = As Cheap as Possible. I like sturdy furniture for kid’s rooms, but I don’t like investing a lot in pieces that are sure to take abuse. As an example, Miss Seven has a desk that came from my grandparents’ house that I painted white. As these things happen, some nail polish remover soaked onto the desk top recently and peeled away some of the paint. If I had paid good money for a new desk, I would have been upset. But since I only invested some time and spray paint in it, I’m not concerned. One of these days I’ll touch it up and all will be well. Until the next accident!

 

Homemade chalk paint: a dining table makeover

Posted by Melissa in DIY and tagged with ,

Somehow I always have a list of things to paint. The siren call of a cheap furniture makeover never fails to seduce me. The dining room table has been on this list forever, but until recently I couldn’t decide how to paint it. I bought it more than 15 years ago from a friend of a friend for $100. She had bought it from a consignment store. It’s a large rectangular table, but with unusual angled corners. It also came with three leaves and a complete set of custom table pads. Since we regularly host family and friends for dinner, we love its flexible size, and a new table of comparable dimensions isn’t really in the budget. But the finish on the table has seen better days, and some of the veneer on the apron is cracked, peeling, or just plain gone.

I finally decided this table might look good with a creamy antiqued finish, similar to the Swedish antique style. I’d also read all sorts of raves about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, and how easy it to use on furniture. No priming! But at $30-something a quart, it felt too expensive. And then I came across a homemade formula for chalk paint. The results looked good, so I decided to give it a try. I already had paint, and only had to buy plaster of Paris, which was less than $7 at Home Depot.

I’m really happy with how the table turned out. It only took two coats of the homemade chalk paint to cover, and then I sanded the edges of the table just a little, so the original wood finish would peek through. After a coat of natural paste wax (two coats on the table top), we brought the table back in the house.

I think the new color lightens up the room, and I definitely appreciate not having to cover the ugly scratched finish with a tablecloth (have you seen what a four-year-old can do to a tablecloth in a single meal?). I’ve crossed this item off the list, but the list isn’t any shorter. The day after I finished it, I found a wicker chair on the curb, just waiting for a little love and spray paint.

Unclogging the sink

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, DIY and tagged with , , ,

Nobody tells you just how much of adulthood revolves around plumbing. Is there some sort of plumbers’ lobby that has conspired to keep us all in the dark? Honestly, Plumbing 101 ought to be a required high school course, or maybe one of those 8th grade electives. The course would include such topics as how to plunge a toilet and unclog the drain in a sink or shower, the difference between a septic system and the city sewer, and what not to put down the garbage disposal. Without this knowledge, you buy your first house, and shortly thereafter, the shower drain stops up, leaving you standing in three inches of water with shampoo in your eyes and no clue how to fix it.

In case this has ever happened to you, I’ll share the few tricks I have learned (from You Tube, the guy at my local hardware store and Heloise) for remedying that slow drain.

Here’s the handy little tool that the hardware store man recommended:

It’s cheap and it works, assuming your drain is just clogged with hair, soap scum, and other mysterious gunk. Oh, and it’s green! No need to pour Drano or other harsh chemicals down the drain.

So here’s what you do. Get some paper towels or rags, a bottle of white vinegar, a box of baking soda, and put the kettle on to boil. If you have rubber gloves, this is a good time to wear them. Slide the Zip-It down the drain as far as you can (don’t let go of the little handle, of course) and jiggle it around. Slowly pull it out and wipe the nasty hairballs and black stuff on the paper towels. Repeat from every angle, until you aren’t pulling anything out of the drain anymore. Shudder dramatically, wad up the disgusting paper towels and throw them away.

Next, shake some baking soda down the drain (maybe 1/2 cup) and chase it with a cup of white vinegar. Finally, pour the kettle of boiling water down the drain. Chances are, your drain will be clear at this point and you will feel like a home improvement hero.

If not, I guess you’d better call a real plumber.