wall makeovers (& a lot of pictures)

i think someone spiked my chai tea latte's with some

red bull this weekend.

after 14 months in our current home our to-do list is still

pretty long. some big projects and some small.

saturday i was determined to cross off some of the

small projects i'd been dragging my feet on.

namely, dressing up some walls.

i've been working on the boy's room's upstairs as i'm able to get materials.

the stairwell leading up to their space is dark, has poor lighting, and up to now

has had nothing on the walls. bOrInG!

i knew i wanted to deck it out with color and with stuff  that would be

fun for the boys. i want them to love their rooms, and the walk up!

everything on the wall came from around the house. i didn't spend a dime.

the above print is hanging on an old barn door which is leaning in the corner

on the landing at the bottom of the stairs.

most of the frames received a fresh look with

either spray or craft paint or both.

five keys representing the five of us.

an 8x10 print from my friend jessie. hopefully she won't

mind i cut it up to achieve a different look.

the boys' artwork. . .

the excerpt above is from a book "the clowns of god" talking

about children with down syndrome, challenging the things on which most

people place value.

there are three framed numbers on the wall. a 3, 5, and 7, the ages of the boys

when we moved into quinby cottage.



i can't remember where i got this print. it was years ago. it was on etsy.

that's all i know.

i have just a few spots to fill in and i'm sure

it will be ever changing as the boys grow.

next up is the wall on the other side of the staircase. it looked like this for a

long time. . .

one of our problems in this house has been lack of space for

bookshelves. after tripping over books stacked in wire baskets

and even an old antique wash tub i'd had enough and decided to

throw up a couple shelves on this wall.

(please ignore the different color trim. still working on painting it all out.)

i bought a few scrolly brackets and two 1 x 6 x 6 boards, stained them

and slapped 'em up there.

it really warms up that wall.

looking at this side of the room is totally different now. i love it.

so, that's what i did on saturday.



oh, one other thing got changed. i wanted to use the little mirrors from

our front room in the stairwell.

and the 'w' and the chalkboard which i spray painted red. so i had to

 re-do this wall.

here it is now. prints from jones design company.

whew!

love checking things off my list!

~ stacy ~

sick day equals progress upstairs

i had other plans today.

plans to hang out with a friend

and help her with a project.

but when tank wandered into my room at 4.30am

with a high fever i knew plans were a changin'.

after dropping spinner and bean at school and getting tank settled on the sofa with some blankets and cartoons

i decided to knock out one

of the 150 things on my to-do list.

the boys' room's have been under a slow over-haul

for a good month or more.

so far i have painted various walls in both rooms

and planked the hall landing at the

top of the stairs that connects their rooms.

today was all about planking a small bit of wall behind

bean's bed.



there is so little light upstairs (as it is nestled in the trees) so pics

are nearly impossible to take. what i'm saying is, forgive the grain!

before i started i realized i needed to slap some

dark paint on that wall because i wanted the

gaps between my wood to be large and

haphazard (and i didn't want butter yellow showing through).

i used 1 x 4's and 1 x 6's cut at varying lengths.

i layed it out on the patio as i cut so that

the seams were where i wanted them.

the rest was pretty easy. i just used my nail gun to put the

cut wood up, starting on the right side to make

sure the wood was flush with the wall's edge.

i did have to extend the outlet.



i use these little plastic doohickeys. they work

great and are super easy.

once extended i finished up and put on the new outlet cover.

like i said, i wanted it to look haphazard and piecemeal with

random gaps and spacing. this picture really shows the gray

wall  through the cracks put in the room the spaces just

look dark, which is what i was hoping for.



i'm pretty pleased with it. i love the natural color

and will just top it off with a coat or two of

wipe-on polyurethane.

now i need to find a swing arm, plug in, wall lamp to put

in the upper right quarter so my little guy can

read in bed.

next step for their rooms is beadboard for the rest of the half-walls.

fingers crossed i have this all done before thanksgiving.

and when i do, i'll give you the full reveal.

~ stacy ~

homemade laundry detergent

laundry detergent is expensive.

have you noticed? of course you have.

even with coupons and sales and combining the two.

no, that's not grated cheese

so, i made my own.

there are all sorts of homemade recipes out there

for liquid and powder detergents.

here's what i used:

2 cups borax ($3/box)

2 cups arm & hammer super washing soda ($3/box)

1 bar fels-naptha soap (less than a buck/bar)

mix the two powders and "grate" the soap. stir it all up

good then throw itin your food processor and mix until

the soad is so fine you just see pretty yellow specs

throughout the powder.

pour it into a suitable container, i used a glass

canister that has been sitting empty.

then make a pretty label and enjoy.



i use 1 tablespoon per load.

with three smelly/dirty little boys and one big

boy that runs and cycles and sweats like no one

i've ever met i knew this stuff was going to have to work hard.

after 3 weeks i am very pleased. everything is

clean and smell super fresh.

i doubled the recipe so i'd be set for a while and there is plenty

left in both boxes of powder for another batch!

happy laundering!

life and a yard sale

mornings are always a bit hectic around here.

school drop off is 7.00am.

we walk out of the door at 6.55am.

at 6.45am the hall bathroom looked something

like this.

the toilet lid was closed prior to the snapping of

this picture in order to protect your eyeballs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

while waiting on the plumber i got busy with sorting items for

our yard sale this saturday.



need some china? linens? vintage aprons?

home accessories? come on out. we'll have furniture

and lamps, too.

and ironstone. it's killing me but i'm thinning my collection

in order to maintain my simple living commitment.

if you're local holler and i'll give you directions.

~ stacy ~

project updates: whitewash and boy rooms!

i did it.

i made a decision on the brick fireplace treatment.

it's not done yet but i have had a few people ask to see what i'd done so far,

so here ya go.

i used a 50/50 ratio of primer to water, grabbed a brush

and started applying.

the whitewash is on. it took about 1.5 hours and dried super

fast.

next step is to take a wire brush to it to rough it up just a bit and

expose a little more of the brick.

we love it! even without the roughing up.

pastor j has been wanting me to paint

it for a while so he is especially pleased with it which

makes me happy.

we also have a few things going on upstairs in the boys'

quarters. it involved this. . .

and some of this. . . 

and now we are here. . .

this is luke's corner. he styled the shelves himself. :)

next week beadboard will go up on the side walls, beneath

the pitched ceiling.

wil's corner is gonna be sweet, too.

and timmy? he's getting a splash of green in his room!



to paint or not to paint?

* paint brick fireplace!

that's on my project to-do list.

it should have been checked off by now so that

it would be ready for use this winter.

it's not.

i'm generally not one to shy away from slapping

paint on anything but for some reason

i feel tentative about painting the brick.

does that mean i shouldn't do it?

after we moved in i immediately painted the shiny brass

fireplace insert black.

that was easy and greatly improved things.

but in the back of my mind i knew i'd eventually paint the brick.

in anticipation of painting it this summer i cleaned her

out really well in the spring and removed the big

honking insert.

this is how it sits now.

when i took the insert out i realized i'd done a rotten

prep job before painting it. note the black rim around the opening.

so, now, i have to paint the brick.

right?

i do like the warmth of brick. i think i'm afraid i'm going to want

it back and this is one paint job you just can't undo.

however, every time i see a painted brick fireplace, like this one from

younghouselove,

 i'm ready to pull out my brush!

i also love the brick treatment in this kitchen.

and this whitewash treatment is great.

source

what to do, what to do?

i'm leaning toward a whitewash so that some of the warmth

of the brick will come through.

any opinions? i'm wide open.

~stacy~

a shot of red

One year ago my family moved into Quinby Cottage.

Since then we have been busy trying to make this downsize

work for our family of five by creating a warm

and functional space.

We're getting there.

You can see a little of what we've done

here, here, and here (where she's all cleaned up for Christmas).

We've knocked out wall's, pulled out kitchen cabinetry, painted,

put up board and batten and horizontal planks, and changed out some lighting.

There is still so much more to be done and I've been in a bit of

a diy rut lately!

I knew that in order to get out of the rut I needed

to tackle a quick project that would provide instant

gratification. And it needed to be cheap.

So, I finally painted our front porch swing.

My mom and dad gave us this swing the week we moved in and it's

been on my long "project" list ever since. It was the perfect project

to get me going again.

I decided to paint it the same red as our front door, which I had on hand.

Nothing like an easy update that packs a punch to

get the diy juices flowing!



It's time to re-visit my project list and get busy!

Stay tuned!

linking up with The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday.