Procrastination: The Spice of Life

Back today with just a small update to our kitchen area. Under our microwave in our kitchen was a large blank canvas just waiting for me to add something. Well it turns out I bought that something over a year ago. A friend and I went to Ikea around this time last year and I bought some pieces of their Bygel collection. This is basically a series of bars, hooks, and baskets that all fit together.

Anyway back to finally hanging them. I forgot to pick up screws when I was at Ikea so I lucked out that we have a ton of screws on hand from various other projects. I actually did this project without Jose here to supervise which is tricky because my track record with actually hanging things straight is not so good. Also I had to drill holes in the wall which was terrifying since I just spent an entire day painting this kitchen. So without further ado here is the small update that I think has a big impact.

Have you guys done any bar hanging lately? What about drilled holes in freshly painted walls? What DIY projects make you nervous? (Anything involving holes in the wall are a killer for me).

Fabric Covered Built Ins

Hello and sorry this post is three days late. We went out of town for the weekend and discovered our Internet was down when we got back home. Of course it takes a day or two to fix and so we are here on Wednesday afternoon and its finally fixed.

Enough about my Internet tirade. The real reason for this post is to show off our newly backed built ins. Many of  you might have noticed the built ins in last weeks post about the kitchen being painted. I took a page from Young House Love's book about covering foam poster board with fabric and placing in built ins to give a new look. If you haven't checked out their book yet and you love home decor/craft projects then you are missing out.

Before

After

So step one in this process was to gather my equipment. For this project I only had to buy the foam board because I used some fabric that I got from Walmart about six months ago. I normally do not just buy fabric but it was one dollar a yard and I knew I could find something to do with it. So back to my equipment:

1. Staple Gun

2. Fabric of Choice

3. Foam Board

4. Built in you wish to transform.

5. Exacto Knife

6. Pencil

7. Something with a straight edge (I used one of Jose's legal pads) 

8. Scissors

Next I measured the space between each shelf on the built ins and made my marks. Next I connected the dots using the straight edge on the legal pad. Once this was complete I took the Exacto Knife and cut the board along the straight line.

Then I laid the foam board out on the fabric and cut the fabric large enough for the fabric to wrap around the back and be stapled. Next came the act of stapling the fabric to the foam board. Lesson learned from this: make sure you are on a solid surface that the staples cannot go through. This was a hard lesson for me because at first I stapled our dining table. I am always doing something to injure our poor dining table. Jose thinks I subconsciously do not like our table. I think I am just forgetful and do not always think projects through before carrying them out.

Once the fabric was secured to the foam board I just slid the board into the space behind the dishes and admired my handy work. This is the process I used to complete all six shelves of our dining room built in. Now that I know how easy it is I cannot wait to do our hallway bookshelves!

Any fun projects for you guys over the weekend? Is there a piece of furniture in your home that you absent mindedly cause injury?

The Kitchen got a Paint Job

As I said on Monday I am super excited for this weeks posts. Monday I showed you guys how we finally updated our porch light and today I am going to show you our kitchen transformation. Since I think pictures are worth a thousand words lets start with the before:

And now:

Its such a huge difference. Our kitchen feels ginormous! (I know this is not a real word but gigantic and enormous just do not cut it so why not combine them). Also a new discovery is that our counter tops are actually more grey than blue. So I hate them a little less now. Score! We have a lot more projects for the kitchen but for now a coat of paint made a world of difference. Also please excuse the bisque cabinets. I plan to repaint them white soon. Hope everyone is having a great week!

What have you painted lately? Any rooms? Ever painted a room and felt like you gained square feet?

We Saw the Light. . .

Happy Monday! I am so excited about the things we have to post about this week! Finally we got around to doing some blog worthy house projects this weekend. For starters we finally replaced our front porch light. Now normal people would have probably not replaced the whole light when the bulbs burnt out but we are not always normal. (I mean normalcy is overrated right?) We have wanted to change the porch light for awhile because in order to access the light kit you had to disassemble the porch light itself. Very annoying when you are on a ladder at an awkward angle.

We went to Lowe's this past week to pick up somethings for other projects and decided to bite the bullet and get a new outdoor light. I was immediately sold on the idea but Jose took a little convincing (mostly because he was the one doing the change out). We thought about getting a motion activated light but ultimately decided that this $20 version would suit our needs just fine. Our main reason for this decision was the bulbs. The light we chose takes regular bulbs and the motion activated one used candelabra bulbs. Also the motion activated one still had to be disassembled to change the bulbs.

Jose bravely tackled the light change out. I say bravely because our breaker box is not labeled very well and our home was built in 1938 so when it comes to wiring sometimes things are a little hairy. I think one of the hardest parts was getting the old light down since the existing screws had stripped out.

This guy was found in the process of switching lights. Once again so glad my hubby was doing this!

Once the old light was down Jose followed the directions provided with the new light to put it up. Now we have a beautiful new light that even I can grab the ladder and change the bulb with no problem.

Did you guys tackle any projects this weekend? Any light change outs recently? What about home projects?

A Small Bedroom Update

I know I have been slacking lately in the posting department. I promised with the beginning of a new year I would post two days a week but lately it has been a stretch just to post one day a week. I think this is because we are finally getting to a place with our home that we are happy. Yes there are still things that we want to do, like remodel the kitchen, but that's a big project and it is going to take both of us. So we must wait until summer when Jose has some free time and can help. Overall though our house is starting to feel more like home, our home. Especially after spring cleaning last week. I can now walk in and feel content and comfortable.

Well this post was not just to apologize so here is the real reason for posting. I finally made our fabric headboard! I ordered the fabric what seemed like ages ago and I have had the peg board backing for a year now. In my defense the peg board was originally meant for the kitchen to hang pots and pans. Then we found the amazing lockers, so that idea go scraped. My original thought for using the pegboard was that i wanted a tufted headboard and what an easier way to mark your holes right? That idea sort of went by the wayside when I started looking at Pinterest and Young House Love. The headboards I am drawn too are simple except for their fabric makes them interesting.

 So the only piece missing was the batting. This I got from Hobby Lobby ages ago as well. If you have never made a fabric headboard or reupholstered anything it is amazingly simple. You just need your pegboard backing, batting, fabric, and a staple gun.

1. The first step is to lay your batting out on a flat surface (large enough to lay down your peg board or any type wood backing). I used the floor. 

2. Then place your backing down upon your batting. Next just pull the batting tight and staple all the way around. 

3. Next stand your batting covered headboard up so that you can lay your fabric out flat. If your fabric has a pattern that needs to be straight make sure that it is before you start stapling. Now staple all the way around just like you did for the batting. 

4. Now trim the excess fabric and hang on the wall or attach to your bed. Whichever you prefer. I hung ours on the wall as I believe this is the best positioning for our bedroom to maximize the space so I do not think i will be moving it anytime soon. 

Well now that you have spent a significant amount of your time reading this I hope you feel comfortable tackling a fabric headboard of your own. Sorry to be so wordy, I guess I am just making up for not posting the last two Thursdays.

Happy Monday! What projects did you tackle this weekend? Do you have a fabric headboard? Do you wish you did? I hope this post will give you the gumption to tackle one yourself! Have a great week!

The Long Awaited House Tour

How many of you have clicked on our Home Tour tab only to see that message of "coming soon"? I guess when I put that up there (almost a year ago) I thought it would be soon. However I am slow about getting our house photography ready. I mean I do not want pictures of a dirty house posted on here.

So in the spirit of Young House Love's winter pinterest challenge I spring cleaned our home. The reason I am linking up to YHL's challenge is that most of my cleaning products were homemade from recipes found on pinterest. I am not going to be too wordy today and just let the pictures do the talking. Here we go: 

The Living Room

The Dining Room/Kitchen

The Bathroom

The Master Bedroom

The Office

The Guest Room

The Hallway

Hope you guys enjoyed taking a look around our home. Isn't is so nice to have a clean house? I love coming home and knowing that our home is clean and tidy. Is there any better feeling? Are you guys planning to spring clean any time soon? If so will be you making your cleaners or do you use store bought?