master update :: repurpose, repaint, repair

i've been sloooowly chipping away at our master

bedroom for some time now.

i started here, then did this and this.

then stalled out.

because we have virtually no budget for this re-do

i have had to repupose, repaint, and repair

things we already have.

i do enjoy a decorating challenge.

(the wall planks have been the one expense so far

but i sold furniture to get the funds for those!)

headboard . . .

i knew i wanted it to be rustic and it had to be cheap.

finally i decided to use an old barndoor

that we hauled from nc last year.

so, i brought it in from the shed and set to work

giving it some legs.

i used some scrap wood, cut it to length, and

used the nail gun to secure it.

it's a heavy door so i bulked up the legs a good bit.

i knew they wouldn't be seen so wasn't too concerned

with how they looked.

and here she stands.

i'm really liking it.

with all the straight lines - wall planks and

headboard - i wanted something with some softer edges

on and over the bed.

the pillows also bring in the bright pops of color i wanted.

the mirror over the bed was a clearance

item from tjmaxx. it's cheap, cheap but i knew

i would paint it.

it's rustoleum's leaf green.

this old quilt was handed down from pastor j's side of the family

and has so many fun colors. it's a bit tattered so

i just drape it across the bed.

i'm still chipping away at the room as a whole but have done a few things

here and there. i still have a number of things to do

before it all comes together. some of that involves

spending so once the kids are back in school i'm

going to work on some furniture to sell and try to get this room done!

in the meantime,

here are a few sneak peeks of other little projects going on in the room.



hoping to finish it up and share the reveal by the end of september.

like i said, i'm moving slow! :)




linking up with the shabby nest today for frugal friday.



one thing leads to another

you know the old story about putting a rose in

a room? then you clean the table on which it is perched.

then you open the drapes. then you pick up the clutter and vacuum

and on and on until you have an 

easy on the eyes room.

make one small pretty change and it leads to more.

that happened to me this week.

and it started with painting my door red.

that led to completely rearranging the furniture

in our living room. which meant moving furniture out 

and into our bedroom. which meant moving furniture out

of our bedroom and into our den (pictured above).

which led to painting the moved furniture since

it had a new home. i'll show you that later.

it also led to finally hanging the big distressed mirror that 

i have hauled through three moves (always writing into the contract

that my mirror does not convey).

in our small space it adds a big punch, throwing light

and reflections around the room. i love it.

hanging the mirror also led me to do something on the opposite wall,

which to this point had yet to be treated. but having that wall in 

the mirror's reflection pushed me to get 

something up there. 

so i dug around in our shed (grabbing the empty frames)

and the storage closet and threw this 

up there. kind of haphazard but it works for now.

there was a mahogany secretary desk here but it got the

boot because it was just too chunky for this space.

my grandmother's old drop leaf table is now perched here. 

it's just the right depth allowing us to move the sofa and 

have a walkway between the back of the sofa and the wall.

see the wall to the right of the black door? that's where the 

drop leaf table was but we could never open the 

back door all the way. and my three little guys would

inevitably slam that table every time they swung the door open.

now the door opens all the way!

but now i need to do something with that wall.

don't like the picture there. 

with summer coming i anticipate lots of in and out over in that

corner so i may throw some kind of treatment on that wall

and put up some hooks.

and it all started with the red door.

now, back to my planned projects!

does this ever happen to you? please tell me i'm not the only one. :)

front room

my, how this house has changed in four short weeks.

this blue room is no longer.
the wall to the right is gone and,
if you look past the naked kid to the wall behind him,
that wall is opened up to what we now refer to as 
the front room.

here it is in process.

beginning to take shape.

it was the forth bedroom.

a small space that we decided

would be best used as

more living space in our tiny

cottage.

and it would open up the front

entry which was essentially

a short hallway with very little room

for anything functional.

once the room was opened we

had to figure out how to make 

it functional.

the closet in the corner felt awkward

but the wall the closet is on was the longest

and only one suitable for the sofa.

we knew we needed our tv

in  this room but our large armoire

was sold prior to moving, knowing

it would not fit.

after messing around with the room for a few weeks

i think we are almost done.

this is the only living space that is not painted

white. we still kept it light. three walls

have a light bluish green and one wall is

white and will eventually be covered

with horizontal  planking.

the door came off the closet.

we threw on some paint we had from

our last house along with a few shelves

and voila, we have a book nook.

we are in pretty desperate need of book space, this doesn't

even make a dent but it's a start.

and i think it adds more warmth to the

room. with room for a round

wicker basket at the bottom it also gives the

little ones a place to put their trucks.

the wall over the sofa is serving as a random

gallery wall that will probably be changed up

with some regularity.

right now i have three round mirrors that

i had from hobby lobby, i just slapped some white paint on

them. underneath each mirror

is a special piece of art from each kid.

the chalkboard was a mirror that i painted

with chalkboard paint. i also painted the frame which has

been  more colors than i can count!

the ladder i found on a mountain junking/antiquing trip.

the "home sweet home" platter is from target and the 'w' is also from

hobby lobby with a coat of rustoleum's "straw" spray paint.

this is the white wall that will soon have wide white horizontal planking

across it. i think it will add tons to this room.

the picture over the blue check chair is a painting

my brother did years ago. i have always loved it and decided that the

darker, more brooding feel of the painting

really anchored the light, airy feel to this room.

the best piece of furniture for this space

turned out to be this dresser that

 i redid last year. i'm not crazy about

not having a tv cabinet where we can close it

off but we gotta work with what we have.

the dresser also gives us the extra storage space we need.



i think i may have to take a wall painting break to make a wreath,

and this one, that my friend's lauren and aimee made is

very fun! check it out.

i'll be linking up with cottage instincts and domestically speaking.