Submitted By My Old Country House

Recycle the Old and Bring on the NEW!!!

This has been perhaps one of my MOST rewarding makeovers- EVER!!!

Rewarding because I took a piece of furniture that was truly a nothing piece...just a bench...

yes it was cute-ish, I had painted it high gloss yellow after I bought it for $20 at a used furniture store in D.C. . It has been at the foot of our bed, all but forgotten and certainly not high on the list of "MUST-DO's"!!

BUT NOW!!!!!
it is a gorgeous piece!

TUTORIAL!!!

Gather all of your supplies:

You will need:

1. Picnic Bench or long bench or even a short bench!

2 .fabric

3. scissors

4. soft cotton batting

5. staple gun and staples (1/4")  I highly recommend investing in an electric one

6. measuring tape or yardstick and a pencil

7. foam

This foam was part of a sofa a cushion that I no longer use.
I cut and pieced it together. Reduce - Reuse- recycle!!!

optional

8. nail head tacks - this  foot bench took 9 packages of 25 tacks/pack.

9. sheet or drop cloth for floor

10. Dog sleeping on the sofa to keep you company ...

TUTORIAL-

Lay down your drop cloth .

On the drop cloth (This will help catch random staples and tacks and keep the fabric clean as well)  And lay down inthis order-

1.fabric (cut to size) face down,

with 2. batting next and then lay the

3. foam and then the

4. bench top down upon the foam.

As far as cutting the fabric - my bench is 10" wide and 50" long so.

I cut my fabric 20" wide and 70" long this gave me height for the foam, and leftover the wrap below.

I began stapling by alternating side to side, to make sure the fabric pulled evenly. I discovered that if I kneeled on the bench it would depress the foam, eliminating the need for me to PULL the fabric so hard. I finished the bench this way and it gave me a nice tight pull of the fabric. I got a few lumps, but oh well.

when I got to the end, I wanted to cover up the area where I had lots of stapling...I took a piece of the batting and glued it on top.

I took the fabric and folded it over and stapled it down underneath.

View of the bench, PRE NAILHEAD TRIM...I love the gray and yellow!!!!

I drew a line across the bottom edge of the sides, and followed that line with the nailhead trim. I discovered that if I used my needle nose pliers, that I could move faster and I avoided
hitting my fingers with the hammer.
I purchased a magnetized tack hammer for this project
($6.50@ Lowes ) and I am IN LOVE with the difference it makes!
Because I pieced together two pieces of foam, I ended up with a teeny lump, but hey, this is going in MY bedroom, and NO ONE will notice it...In fact...my husband may not even notice that I upholstered it to begin with!!!!

My Son Cooper was a HUGE help, I held the tacks with my pliers and he did the tapping!
It made a difference following the pencil line, I have done it without...
and I would not recommend it.

The final result..!

I love how it looks, especially, when placed at the foot of my/our bed!!! I am so excited about how great it all looks together.

Project Breakdown:

Cost: Fabric, Batting, Staple Gun, pliers, foam, bench,  - recycled - I had all of these supplies.

Tacks - $12.00

Hammer - $6.50

I bought the fabric over a year ago, with something else in mind that never materialized.

The batting I had leftover from an upholstery project a few years ago.

I bought the nail head trim yesterday at Lowes for $1.30/pack and everything else I had.

Total time 2 hours, and it probably could have taken less time... had I not had to take breaks to pick up kids from school, teach a drama class, drive to Track Practice, take my son to a hair cut appointment, make dinner(okay... so I ordered pizza!!!)...but I did get it all done in one day!
It is most assuredly a great weekend project!
Take a look around... do you have any benches that might be improved with upholstery?
I am already looking for my next project.

If you liked this post please check out these:

Ballard Design Inspired DIY Striped Bench Tutorial	Take a Seat! How to Build a Bench	Danish Modern Bench Redo	Get off the Bench! Headboard Projects

Submitted by Maple Leaves and Sycamore Trees

First things first, this is what this room looked like prior...well several years ago anyway when Ryder was a baby. You can read more about that here.

What made us decide it was time for a wee makeover was when I saw a metal bed in my neighbor's burn pile one day. (Read more here.) I didn't want to put a new (to us) bed in a periwinkle room. It was time for a change.  Check out how we pulled the room together.  For now here is the tutorial for the ceiling:

Hey, this is Mitch, from Maple Leaves & Sycamore Trees, resident carpenter, electrician, plumber, pretty much whatever I need to be to make our house more into the home of our dreams. (Pretty funny when you think about it, since we live in a two bedroom rancher.) Last week Kathleen posted pictures of Ryder's new bedroomwith this pallet wood ceiling.

It all started several months ago, when she showed me some pictures on another blog where they made an accent wall out of recycled pallet wood. From the time that I first saw it, I loved the way that it looked and the whole idea of reusing old, weathered (and of course free) wood. It looks so warm and rustic which is right up my alley.

So last month, we were sitting in my son Ryder's room and looking at the walls and the ceiling. We have both hated the ceiling in his room for a long time and you can see why. Hello, 1980s!

It was so ugly, dated and dirty white. Not what a little boy wants to stare at while he lays in bed at night listening to his Lightning McQueen storybook CD (for the thousandth time I might add).  So anyway, as Kathleen and I were there talking about what we would change in the room, she suggested that we paint the walls. Then if we are going to paint, why not do something to that hideous ceiling while we are at it. We both thought of pallet wood and before we knew it we had a new project (like we didn't have enough to do already.)

Here is the room getting prepped to be painted after I pulled down the crown molding.

The painting part was easy, but I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to secure the pallet wood to the ceiling. I did some online research and pinned some helpful pictures and websites (yes I am a man and I am on Pinterest, don't judge me). Although I didn't find anyone that had used pallet wood on a ceiling, there were a few that had done some accent walls.

The problem was that our ceiling had a layer of half inch drywall with another layer of bugly (butt ugly) half inch ceiling tile. Also, the joists or studs in the ceiling were 24 inches apart. I decided that my best bet was to get some cheap particle board from Lowe's and glue and screw it to the ceiling and ceiling joists. I think these 4`x8` sheets cost like $7 a piece.

Next I brought home from work about 40 old broken pallets. Thanks Good Food, Inc.(shameless plug for our new website designed by yours truly) for the donation. Note: pallets are not really that hard to find if you ask around. You can even find them on Craigslist for free.

I bought a reciprocating saw from Harbor Freight for $29.99 and used it to cut through the nails to remove the boards from the pallets. I made a mistake and bought blades with 6 TPI (teeth per inch). The first day of cutting I wore out a lot of blades really quickly. After switching to more adequate blades of 18 TPI, the boards came off in no time. Cutting them off like this is easiest and leaves the nail heads in the boards which gives the appearance that they were actually attached to the ceiling with these nails.

Apparently, Ryder is very excited about this project and to have his picture taken.

I only cut off the boards that were in good shape and not badly cracked or warped. After the boards were removed, I sanded each board with 120 grit sandpaper to get the large splinters and dirt off.

The boys are loving all these loud power tool sounds.

Ryder thought this board that had "Product of Canada" printed on it was cool. And of course being a born and raised Canuck myself, I did too. That board went prominently right above his bed.

I scrubbed each board thoroughly with a stiff bristled brush and soapy water and then rinsed them off. This got a lot of dirt off.

And then I let all the boards air dry.

I then sanded all the boards again with 220 grit sandpaper to make them smooth and remove any lingering dirt or splinters before finally being ready to attach them to the ceiling. I decided to use both wood glue and nails. It may have been overkill but the last thing I wanted was for one to fall on Ryder's head in the middle of the night.

The first board.

Despite how this picture appears, I want to be clear that I do not have a Hitler mustache. I think it is a shadow on the wall or something.

Kathleen helped pick out each row by making sure they were all the same width and similar in color. I varied all the seams by randomly cutting a board to start each new row. The thing I realized as I went along was that the boards are obviously not perfect and there were occasional gaps and unevenness here and there but in the end its all part of the rustic character.

One of the many advantages of being 6`11``

After all the boards were all up, I reattached the crown molding.

And this is how it turned out with the addition a new modern ceiling fan.

It was a lot of time-consuming work but totally worth it and actually really not that difficult. And the best part is that Ryder loves it and can enjoy it for years to come. I know that pallet craft seems to be all the rage right now and may be just a fad, but it really does look cool. So if you want something unique, why not give this budget friendly project a try? With the right tools, I am sure that anyone can do it.  If you like this please check out the room reveal!

If you like this post please check out these:

Little Boys Room Makeover	Amazing Superhero Boys Room!	Boys Beach Bedroom Interior Design	Bold Striped Wall; Boy Room Design Ideas

Well we didn’t really ever get around to showing you how we decided to corral out cords.  First when we weren’t sure what to do with them we did this with a little bill box, we just cut the back side and put the cords in through that slit.

When the lids were on you couldn’t tell they were even there.  But I wanted to clean off the desk top, so I got to searching for ideas…

There are a ton of great ideas from Pinterest (I would love it if you follow me) like these:

The first image is a pvc pipe that have been painted and screwed to the back of the desk!  (Lifehacker)

The second picture is rain gutters just under the desk (Apartment Therapy) genius!

I love how they used binder clips on the side of their desk. such a great non permanent solution.  (Sources: Image 1 and Image 2)

The picture we loved the most was this:

Ya gotta hand it to Martha, she (and –ahem- her team) have SUCH great organizing ideas.

(The link was to the main page of a blog, sorry, so here it is on Pinterest)

Okay so here is what we did we purchased a drawer organizer from target, and dug into our nail supply for some screw in hooks:

Then with the help of two little girls, Justin marked the place to hang the organizer.

( I love how Lydia’s pants were all bunched up from crawling around)

Because the wood was too hard to just screw the hooks in Justin predrilled some pilot holes.

Then just install (by hand cranking the little hooks in place!  It is sort of neck breaking…)  Make sure all the hooks open up to the same direction so you can hook on the basket.

I wanted the cord to go through the corner of the basket, so I just clipped off on of the metal rods in the corner closest to the plug and fed the plug through.  Plug all your plugs in, gather the excess and tie with twist ties…

There you have it, nice and clean cords!

Now that I have the cords controlled, I think I need to label them.  I love these ideas, which one do you like?

File folder labels:

I do this with charging cords, only with masking tape or my label printer… and write what they charge. (Real Simple)

These look nice too!  (Martha Stewart)

I love reusing bag ties idea… (Apartment Therapy)

What simple projects have you been working on lately?

HAPPY  1st  BIRTHDAY   LYDIA!

I thought it would be fun to review the year with Lydia…

I would apologize for how many pictures I am including in this post, but if you only knew how many times I narrowed it down… and anyway, it is just too fun for me to look back, I can’t help it, I think she is SO cute!  (we still need to throw her first birthday let you know when we do it!)

Welcome to Earth!

Meet your big sister, Etta!  You are going to be great friends!

My sister Tiffany told me to give her a bath right when she came home… I know the rules are that you don’t do it.  But she(Tiff) has done it for most of her kids, and they are alive and well, so I thought I would try it.  It was so adorable she fell asleep almost immediately, it was like going home… (and just FYI, her little cord stump came off within 2 weeks of her birth… no problems!)  To make the bath nice for them you just need to sort of hold their arms down to keep them from flailing and scaring themselves.

I love this “Moby” wrap my sister Noelle sent me!   She made it herself out of some stretchy breathable fabric.  It was so nice in the first 3-4 months.  (I know a lot of people use it after that… but I like to put my children down as often as possible…does that make me a bad mom?)

My wonderful mommy came to visit me!  Just a fun note, she has never colored her hair… (here is to hoping that when I am 66 I still have my natural hair color!)

I will admit, that ever since I found out I was having another girl I was excited for them to play together…

Lydia’s blessing day!

Grandma made her dress like she did for Etta too!  I embroidered flowers with beads!  I love this little dress!

In their matching Easter dresses… this was the best picture we got (I tried again a few months later…right before the dresses were totally outgrown, but we' didn’t fair much better!

On our 10th anniversary we went to the zoo!  I know, not the exotic destination you were hoping for… after we went to the botanical gardens and took some family pictures.. without a remote, and only a time… it was pretty funny!  Lydia is wearing one of my dresses in these shots!  Thanks Mom for saving it!

Lydia is our little thumb sucker!  Cute thing!  She found it at about 3 weeks old… we’ll have to see when we get this habit squashed!

Zucchini from our garden

(we have the same picture of Etta… it will have to be a tradition… this is getting me excited for a garden!)

Her first pony tail.

We had our friend Destinee Blau take family pictures for us while we were visiting North Carolina.

Also on the trip to North Carolina I met Lisa LaPorta (she is so wonderful!) and got to work with my blogging BFF Roeshel from DIY Showoff and meet Rhoda and Lindsay which was so fun.

1.   I will admit that this was a scary trip for me, first I was designing a room and really had no idea other than that (major pressure).  But the biggest fear was for Lydia has never taken a bottle and was only 5 months old -  no solids.  We did a lot of juggling.  But Daddy took care of both the girls for three days and we lived.  It was overall a great experience for me and I am SO glad I went!

I figure while they will let me that I should dress them in matching dresses… so far so good!

I visit from my niece Eliza was such a treat!

I hate to admit that the first real food Lydia ever tried was a green otter pop.   We gave her some just for fun to see what she’d do… well she loved it and FREAKED out when we took it away.  So it became a bit of a tradition to go outside and have otter pops together while the weather was good.

This girl’s theme song has to be Move it, Move it… (or what ever the title is)  she is all over the place. She rolled over three times in her first week home, up on all fours by about 4 months and crawling by 5 and walking by 9 months…

We got to visit our family in Utah during October…

Lydia LOVED Jumpin Jacks she was all over the place!

Catelin is one of our babysitters.  We love her and Lydia is such a good cuddler!

Who cares about Christmas presents when there are bows on the boxes?

This dress was one of the first things I bought when we found out Etta was a girl.

(so technically my first baby clothes purchase ever… I really love it!)

Lydia LOVES pancakes, especially if they have chocolate chips… can you tell?

These girls LOVE to play outside, and it has been a mild winter so we’ve been out side a LOT this year so far.  I love it when they play together… and again the matching outfits

(these were on clearance at Walmart for 2 bucks a pop!)

First piggy tails! And talking on the phone (i.e. remote control!)

Etta has been quite the mommy lately, eating applesauce can take upwards of 30 minutes… which helps when I am trying to get things done!

On her birthday she got a few little gifts including this Elmo Guitar.  She LOVES dancing and music, so this thing was the much coveted gift… which may have resulted in a few meltdowns from her older sister.

A Wonderful Birthday to my beautiful, happy, cuddly, loving girl!

We love you Lydia!  I can’t wait to watch you grow up!

As y'all well know, we've been working on a few updates in the den (painted mirror, repaired fire place, hung oyster plates, un-hung oyster plates when my decorating demons took over, updated corbels on bar) and it's finally all wrapped up!
Just for kicks, here's the before before.  Loads of room for improvement, no?

...and, after a WHOLE lot of paint, too many sewing projects, furniture and accessories, here's where we are today!



Sources:
Paint - Benjamin Moore Stone Hearth (walls) and Benjamin Moore Alabaster (trim)
Curtains - Basha Dot (sadly, it's been discontinued), made by me
Floor - unstained white oak
Rug - Indoor/Outdoor French Leopard by Ballard Designs
And for the close ups...



Custom mantle designed by me and built by contractors we hired to renovate house.  Plates Butler's Pantry by Lenox.  Antique girandoles from my grandmother, arrangements by bestie R.  Fire place screen from Love Street.  Gas logs by Real Fyre.  Kid table from Michael's, chairs from Pottery Barn Kids and no-sew cloth cut by yours truly.


Chairs by Rowe.  Pillows made by Mother and myself from the little's silhouettes.  White throws from Ikea.  On the table in front of windows - lamp from G. Scott Interiors, alphabet tray by John Derian, oyster plateby Alison Evans, antique books and pie crust table from Mother.


Small table next to door holds reproduction vintage phone from Pottery Barn, collection of books by Savannah authors, cloche with picture of littles and one bronzed baby shoe from each.  Frames fromSugarboo Designs over table.

Bar with updated corbels.  I painted the bar height stools in the trim color and recovered them with a pleated skirt.

DIY chalk paint mirror in Annie Sloan's duck egg blue.  Alison Evans oyster plates.

Antique curio holds collection of pictures and overflow from dining room china cabinet.  Lamp from Stein Mart.  Staffordshire dogs from Scott Antique Market, collection of books by Savannah authors, silhouettesof myself and Sister as children and my littles and cousin Bird.

Atelier antlers from Ballard Designs.  Antique buffet retrofitted to hold t.v. components.  Aiden Gray candle holders.

Antiqued mirrored coffee table from Horchow.  Lantern from DC2 in Savannah, arrangement from Scott Antique Market, oyster plate by Alison Evans, antique rice bowl from Paris Market, large clam shell from Pottery Barn, antique books from Mother, New Orleans Toile coasters from Hazelnut.



Banquette designed by me and built by contractors that renovated our home before moving in.  Anne Hathaway able custom made for us with salvaged wood from Georgia plantation home.  Lamp shades from Restoration Hardware, oyster plates by Alison Evans, pillows made by myself and Mother and purchased from Ballard Designs and Love Street, baskets from Pottery Barn, signed print by Ray Ellis, other items collected.
So that's a tour of every inch of our den.  I couldn't be happier with where we are...and for a type-A kinda gal, it sure feels good to cross that room off the list!
xoxo

Submitted by Joyful Altitude

“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest” -- Robert Montgomery

Four months ago we closed on our homestead. I remember holding the house key in my hand that day and thinking, I really hope the hardwood floors under the carpet are in good shape. Little did I know then that the floors would be the least of our concerns. If you've been following this blog, you know the challenges that came with ownership of this 85 year-old cabin. After getting bids from contractors to do the renovation, we decided to do all but the plumbing, electrical, roofing and insulation ourselves; and pay our friend Will to help us. Financially, it was our best option. If we had contracted all the work with a general contractor, we would have ended up with about half the renovation we have now. All in all, a good investment. And Dennis swears he had fun doing the work. I did hear him whistling most of the time as he labored, so it must be true.

We moved in July 1, even though we still had work to complete. Except for a few small projects and decorating, the interior work is now done. If you've been anxious to see photos, you can relax. Following is a photographic tour of the cabin. I'm including some before photos taken on closing day.

Here's a larger photo of the West Entrance. Dennis picked out the pretty door color. . .

Before...

Walk through the Rolling Hills Green door and you'll find what we laughingly call The Great Room. . .

Before. . .

It serves as Dennis's office. . .

Before. . .

as well as our pantry (Dennis designed and built the pantry himself), laundry. . .

and closet (across from the laundry). . .

Before. . .

A french door gives Dennis privacy and opens to the kitchen. . .

Before. . .

Since we didn't have room for a dishwasher, I opted for a large sink. Dennis and I both like to do dishes, and with this sink it's a pleasure. . .

Here's a close up with the cabinet hardware we added. . .

When you have a small home (624 sf), you have to make good use of all space. We got a great deal on showroom display cabinets from our cabinet guy, but we needed to slightly adjust them to fit our kitchen. He cut down a double door wall cabinet to create one cabinet, with shelves for my cookbooks . . .

He designed a pull-out spice cabinet to the left of the microwave. We moved the stove to the exterior wall so we could vent the stove hood (part of the over-the-range microwave) outside.

The refrigerator is located directly across from the range. Our kitchen is narrow, so the door swing of most fridge models posed a problem. On top of that, we only had a width of 33" and a depth of 30" for the fridge. Thank God for the internet. After a good deal of research, I settled on a Samsung french door refrigerator with bottom freezer. It fits the space and our needs perfectly. . .

To the right of the refrigerator is a prep counter.

We installed a pot rack between the sconces.

The cabinet under the counter -- purchased at a used furniture shop and repurposed as an island in our apartment -- is now a project waiting to happen. Dennis is planning to add shelves and new hardware. A two-day stay in Taos last week gave us plenty of inspiration for a make over. . .

Kitchen before. . .

The new bead board ceiling, and the attic access panel -- which Dennis made from an old door in the cabin -- make the kitchen ceiling fun. . .

On to the living room.  .  .

Before. . .

Did you notice the antique trunk and the tall cupboard in the living room? My grandfather brought the trunk on the ship from Belgium to America. The cupboard is the old brown cupboard we found in the barn. . .

After two days of sanitizing and sanding, it found a new purpose in our home.
The dining room also serves as my writing area. . .

Before. . .

Earlier I mentioned that we made some adjustments to the kitchen cabinets. A pantry came with the unit, but it didn't fit anywhere in the kitchen. We repurposed it as a small closet in our bedroom. . .

Before. . .

Finally, the bathroom. If it's possible to be in love with a shower, I'm in love with ours. . .

Getting clean was never this much fun before. I love the niche. . .

The color of the tile in this close up photo is truer to life. Dennis did all the shower tile work himself. I'm so proud of him. . .

The bathroom is much more spacious now. We have 30" to the left of the sink for storage. We're using a small bookcase for storage until Dennis builds something for us. . .

Before. . .

So there you have it. The Reinke Homestead Extreme Makeover. I hope you enjoyed the tour.
Last Thursday night our church small group came over to bless our home. They are the most beautiful decoration our home could ever have. . .

"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. " Romans 12:4-5

Nancy