So, I'm moving

I think I'd already made up my mind by the time I posed the question to my readers last week. When I mentioned the idea to Jason, his only response was, "Just do it before I come home!" Apparently the bedroom and the pub he's willing to live with in "under construction" mode. Flip-flopping the office for the loft is not. And that's what I've decided I'm calling the new room. The Loft. After I got the bee in my bonnet about it all, I started going through my inspiration folder to find some room ideas. The great thing was this room could kind of be anything! But, oh my god, this room could be anything--where do I begin?!

A few pictures caught my eye and I moved them into my main folder so I could later separate them for even further inspiration. This was the photo I ended with.


image from Decor8 on flickr
SIDE NOTE: Because I know all of us keep files on our hard drives and very rarely mark where they came from... Did you know that if you copy the name of the image from your computer (assuming you didn't change its name when you saved it) and plug it into Google images, it can usually find the source you saved it from? Instant credit giving!

Anyhoo...

Since I'm leaving the big bookcases upstairs, I loved how the picture incorporated that element. A simple chair and side table completes the tranquility of what I'd like our loft to have. We already own the Dolce Lounge chair from Target, but I'd like to find another arm chair as well. Maybe slip cover them both to make them match, but not match, kind of like our dinning room set. I'm working on revamping a coffee table to work in the room as well (more on that soon!), and the mirror I originally thought I was going to hang in our bedroom will get a new home in the loft as well.

The hard part now is actually moving everything!

Moving? Opinions needed!

No no, not us! Not anytime soon anyways. We haven't even been here a full year yet. ;) No, what I'm thinking about doing is moving our office/my sewing station to downstairs.


I know, I'm crazy right?

We have this great little room downstairs that's currently being used as had hopes of being a game room for Jason, but when the boys moved their stuff in before the deployment it became less of a game room and more of a catch-all room for junk (did I mention two other Marines are keeping their stuff here too?!). I hate that it's the first room people see when they walk in. Of course, I don't just want to move the crap around either, but right now there's not too much I can do. Military boys have military crap.


Plus, that downstairs room has a a great breeze, great light, and it's at the front of our house (whereas our office is at the back). The office also gets really warm (being upstairs with all the electronic equipment), and I think I'd like to spend more time on the first floor of our house now and then. Hm hm hm.


So would you move? I'm trying to decided what I would do up in this third bedroom if the office was relocated (nope--no nursery plans going on here, sorry!). It could still be something of a game room, except Jason never actually used the game room that way anyways. I could leave the bookcases up here and turn it into a reading room/library. Maybe get a lounger of some sort? And maybe one day another bookcase! 'Cause we can always use those!



I don't actually know if the downstairs is bigger than the upstairs, but it sure feels like it! Maybe because there's no door...

So, to move or not to move? That is the question.

the office reveal

NOTE: This post is picture heavy! ;)



Let's get a quick reminder of what this room looked like BEFORE:





And NOW:









Who knew wrapping jute twine around a mason jar neck could add such a fun pop of texture?! There was no glue involved as I didn't want to damage my Oregon beauties!





I'm either really loving or hating the yellow color I picked out for the lamp. In any case it's still better than it was!









I totally have to point out my patriotic nerdity on this shelf--red, white, and blue books, with a white star(fish).







These cork boards were only $5 at Wal-Mart. I just painted the ugly orange faux-wood with a glossy black, and it instantly changed their whole look!





My lovely new antique chair! I decided not upholster the arms, but I think I actually like it this way. Oh and that super sweet desk? Is the old industrial desk from the before photos! It's painted in Behr Banana Cream.







I did not sew this scalloped edge! I wish, but it came that way, which is why I loved the fabric.



Remember these baskets? A dose of Rust-Oleum Apple Green added a nice touch of color to that dark shelf.








(That doll may seem creepy, but it's supposed to be Benjamin Franklin. I got him on my first trip to Washington, D.C. almost 14 years ago.)



I warned you it was picture heavy! I tried to make them super pretty so you wouldn't realize how may there were! ;) And now for the fun part...

THE NUMBERS

Desk: Expedit Workstation from IKEA ($120)

Storage Boxes: Kassett magazine box from IKEA ($12 for 2, $24)

Chair: Allak from IKEA ($60)

Lamp: estate sale ($0, already owned)

Mason jars: thrift store ($0, already owned)

Wall art: Empire West ceiling tiles (free!)

Sewing desk: Step-dad's warehouse with eyelet fabric from Fabric.com (free + $14 = $14)

Chair: antique store ($35 for chair + $15 for fabric = $50)

Baskets: Pier One ($4 each, $12)

Sewing Machine: Singer Simple 72-stitch (Christmas gift)

Cork boards: Wal-Mart ($5 each, $10)

Bookcases: Markor from IKEA with Martha Stewart wrapping paper lining ($160 each + $8 = $328)

Wooden letters: Hobby Lobby ($2 each, $4)

Baskets: Target ($0, already owned)

Milk glass dish: estate sale ($2)

*Accessories: Michael's, Wal-Mart, Estate Sale ($8)
*Ask if you'd like to know where I found something!

TOTAL COST: $632

Less than $650 for an entire room--basically from the ground up! We had nothing in the means of an office before we started this project. Just an old junker of a desk, a freebie chair that was falling off its hinges, and our little computer. I shopped a lot from the house and found some great little accessories to fill up the blank spots in our bookcases (blank spots! a first!).

Although, that number changes slightly when you factor in that many of our big purchases were made with Christmas money and gift cards! So if we were really going on what we spent out of pocket, it's more like $268! But, I wanted to be realistic in case anyone else out there needs to construct an entire office out of nothing. I'd still like to add a few more things (tags or labels for the baskets under the sewing desk, decor for the top of the computer case, and trash can somewhere) but even if I didn't, I'd happily call this room done!

You can find tips on the bookcases in my TUTORIALS & HOW TO'S section. Coming tutorials will include the sewing desk, and my antique chair.

I'll be linking up to:
- Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Party
- Reinvented's Trash to Treasure Tuesday!
- Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
- Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a LIVING ROOM that needs to be taken care of!

basket case

My first ever DIY FAIL. Ack! Don't you hate these? Okay, this might not be my first ever failure, but it bothers me just the same. Especially because it seemed so easy to execute. You know how it is: you have a vision in your head, it seems simple enough, but somehow the follow through just isn't what you expect it to be? Yeah. My big fat failure came in the form of baskets. Baskets! $4 little white baskets. Pfft.





Trying to stay on track for the office completion, I had been planning on buying some baskets for the sewing table so I'd have a place for all my little goodies an necessities. I found some at IKEA for $4, but the thought of driving about 45 minutes for cheap baskets seemed kind of retroactive. Luckily, I found some at Pier One that were not only $4 on clearance, but they had canvas linings in them! They were white but I thought, Hey, a little spray paint, a little acrylics, and they'll look totally natural! WRONG!







After the first test run (on the bottom of the basket), I started looking for online tutorials. There are no tutorials on how to paint baskets so they look natural! If there is, it's hidden and buried in Google so well, only a team of swashbuckling pirates would be able to dig it up! I tried my painting technique on two more bottoms, and one more side before I finally decided that the whole faux-natural thing was not going to happen.

So now they're sitting in the garage, being re-primed, and I'm formulating a new plan. I'm thinking Apple Green, and Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze...

Stay tuned.

update

Big sigh of relief. My first (and last) DIY-project-for-someone-else is finally finished. The polyurethane top coat is drying as we speak, and tomorrow afternoon, I'll be taking the newly stained and glossed table top back to her home. It will be so nice to regain our dinning room! Normally I work in our garage, however, California has been hit with some unseasonably cold weather and bad storms. The garage has been too cold to work in because nothing will dry. I had to haul everything inside and make space in our dinning room, which already houses our large pedestal table and six chairs! So to have some of our house back will be sheer bliss!

In the meantime, when I haven't been sanding, stripping, staining, sleeping, or going to the gym, I worked on my antique chair and an industrial desk freebie that we used to use for the computer. I'm turning it into my sewing desk! I'm really, really hoping to have the entire office done by next week. I'm shooting for Monday, but I'm waiting on some fabric so a lot will depend on when it arrives.

Sunday my friend Katie and I are going to a Pottery Barn decorating class! I'm so excited, I can't wait! I have no idea what to expect, but I know we get a little discount coupon after the class. Have I mentioned that I've never physically shopped in a Pottery Barn before? So this is a first!

I'll be back later this week with some more pictures of the office. And hopefully soon, we'll have a big reveal!

It looks like the rain may have paused for a bit, so I'm going to try and get some of my new flowers planted! Poor little things are still in their crate from Home Depot!

But for now, I leave you with a little poetry:

This morning, the sun was shinning off the leftover rain drops.
It glistened in the puddles along the side of the road.
The Surf Liner slid by effortlessly, its wheels click-click-clicking along the tracks.
The breeze blew through the palm trees, making their fronds sway to and fro.
And the Marines were singing cadence.
When a day starts like that, how can it be anything but perfect?

it's the little things that count

- Repaper second bookcase

- Finish wood putty-ing and sanding project

- Finish painting candle sticks

- Make third attempt at threading sewing machine (Take that sewing machine!)

- Return items to Home Depot and get "price-match" price

- Prime new step stool

Both book cases are papered and on their way to being restocked. I just need a few more accessories to fill in a few gaps, but here's a sneak preview of what's going on.





My shoulders feel like they're going to fall off after my weekend of sanding! Lesson learned: apply wood putty sparingly. I accidentally globbed it on nice and thick and had to bust out my electric sander to get the thing finished. And no, I won't tell you what it is until I'm finished, and yes, I'm fully aware I few of few of these "projects" outstanding--all in good time! ;)

My candle sticks, which I actually want to do a full post on, also turned out nicely. When Jason came home and found our garage-turned-sweat-shop, he just shook his head and said, "Nothing's safe from you!" ::shrug:: Oh well!

My sewing machine is finally threaded and I even sewed my first simple stitch! Let's just say, Singer made their instruction manual a lot harder than it needed to be! The "Singer Simple Sewing Machine" is not the "simplest machine ever made" as they claim it to be. Just for the record.

I'm hoping to make it to Home Depot today. Because we spent all day Saturday with my parents, absolutely nothing got done around the house, so it all had to be done Sunday.

And finally, my little step stool from IKEA. I had planned to paint it, distress it, give it a little glazing, and maybe a little number love à la Layla at The Lettered Cottage, but then I noticed this:



That's an actual "Do Not Paint" warning! Have you ever seen something like that?! I actually called Jason down to debate on whether or not I could ignor it. I decided to assemble it for now, and do some more research on this warning. For now it's still cute.

honey-do friday, episode 4

It's been a while since we did one of these! But I'm in the midst of a lot of little projects right now, and I'm hoping the supplies for two more will arrive sometime this weekend! (BTW, can you tell I am itching for spring? Luckily, here in SoCal it's already nice and warm!)



- Repaper second bookcase (or work until I run out of hot glue sticks)

- Finish wood putty-ing and sanding project

- Finish painting candle sticks (I'll do a post on this soon!)

- Make third attempt at threading sewing machine (this has not gone well)

- Return items to Home Depot and get "price-match" price (I'm saving almost $6! That's two whole cans of spray paint!)

- Prime new step stool

It's a lot to do, especially since Mom and I have a huge day planned tomorrow. We're going to run by one of the hardware stores and see about gettin' me some ground cover! I'd love to have our pathway lined with fluffy white Alyssums or spring green clovers. But we have a loooooong walkway and I'm worried those little flowers will rack up in cost! But, we'll see how we do!

chocolate and apple

UPDATE: You can now find a HOW-TO guide on this project in the TUTORIALS section.

I hope you were able to relax over the holiday! We sure didn't! I am determined to get our house in order--a feat that was helped along greatly by my to-do list in 2009. It's been updated and revamped a little for this year, but we've already dove in head first and got a lot accomplished this weekend!

First things first--about a month ago, I started looking for a new area rug. We had two 5x8-foot rugs pushed together to make one large area rug. Aside from the size issue, it was beige and just plain boring boring boring.



Notice the very obvious seems. I hated how it looked.



Luckily, my search didn't last long. I found a gorgeous rug at Ballard Designs. The full 8x10-foot rug was only $250--a price I still haven't been able to match or beat since! Plus, it's a delicious hand braided chocolate jute rug and adds just the right amount of texture and color to our living room.



For anyone considering jute rugs for indoors--do it! I was worried about how it was going to feel under our bare feet, but it actually has a soft and fuzzy quality to it. I can't speak for all jute rugs, but this one is an A+!

Once our coffee table is painted and couches are slip covered, the whole room will (hopefully) look much more crisp and put together...

...much like our office is becoming! You can see the pitiful little before here and the "make-over" we scrounged up here. Using Christmas money and gift cards our family was generous enough to bless us with, we've made leaps and bounds in this little room.




(I've never desired wireless accesories more than after I saw this photo for the first time!)

To take the color scheme throughout the room, we bought green Kassett storage boxes from IKEA, gathered a few of our books with blue covers, and snuck in one of my Ball mason jars I bought up in Oregon.



Of course, the inspiration for this color motif was the gorgeous Martha Stewart wrapping paper I'd seen and planned to use on our bookcases. I was on pins and needles watching Jason nail in all together--I was so anxious to flip it over and see how it looked!



And I LOVED it!





The colors are so fresh and it makes the entire thing so much brighter! I can't wait to apply the paper to our other bookcase as well. Then, comes the really fun part: accessorizing! ;)

So, what do you think of our up and coming little office? Not too shabby for two kids on a budget, huh? Once everything is finished, I'll do a grand unveiling with before and after shots so we can see the journey its taken.

Do you have any big plans for 2010?