Bedroom Makeover

Well, it's DONE! We finished our bedroom makeover and I couldn't be happier! I'm incredibly pleased and very proud of the job we did. We have been planning on this project for about half a year now. We actually even bought the wood floor in July or August of last year I believe, right after we finished the bathroom makeover. After the bathroom it was just a crime that we had to walk people through our bedroom with the disgusting carpet in order to show them the new and pretty bathroom. So, we went to Lumber Liquidators, picked out our wood and bought it. Then it just sat in the laundry room for several months until we could get ourselves motivated to actually get it done. After Christmas I told the hubs, it is time to get that floor done! But, I didn't just want to do the floor, oh no...that would have been too easy. I wanted to get another project crossed off the list at the same time, namely scraping off the ugly popcorn ceiling. I figured it was the perfect time to do it. We would have to empty the room completely of furniture anyway so why not do the ceiling once all the furniture was out and before the new floor was put in? So, that is what we did. My hubby works in the financial industry and he has Martin Luther King Day off, so I requested that day off and we set aside the 3 day weekend to get it done. My plan was Friday night, remove the furniture. Saturday, get the ceiling done. Sunday, get the floor done. Then come Monday, put the furniture all back and enjoy! Um...well...it really didn't work out that way but I'll talk about that later.

This is our bedroom before we started working but after we emptied it of all furniture.



You can't really tell it here but the carpet is the grossest thing you could ever imagine. It was a light cream color originally, here you can see it's pretty much a disgusting color of brown. Suffice it to say, carpet and dogs just don't get along and I will NEVER have carpet in my home again. So, step one...remove the popcorn ceiling...
Um...yeah...that's a lot of ceiling. But, I went to Home Depot to get the paint I wanted to use on it afterward and also looked for any type of scraper to make it easier. Lo and Behold! They had the most wonderful device made just for scraping ceilings. It is a scraper with a metal box shape surrounding it. You attach a bag to it and the stuff from the ceiling falls into the bag for easy pick up. I really didn't care about making a mess per se because we were just using the carpet for a gigantic drop cloth, but it did make things nicer.



After a little practice and trial and error we finally got the hang of it. The trick is to lightly spray the ceiling with water before you scrape each section. Then the scraper needs to be held as flatly as possible to the ceiling. This is our trial ceiling because not many people will see it. I learned quite a bit so now when I tackle the rest of my house I will do a better job. As it is, I'm not unhappy with it, but it's not as even as I would have liked. We started scraping off all of the texture and then realized that it actually looked better to leave some texture on it, thus not removing it all. Oh well, like I said this was our trial ceiling. Now when I get to my living room ceiling I think we can make it look fabulous...and even!

The vanity area is done, now on to the rest of the room!

The ceiling is finished and scraped off. I've taped off the crown molding at the top and I'm ready to paint.

Ah! So much better! I painted it the same color as our bathroom ceiling, which is actually a shade or 2 lighter than our bedroom walls. It really pops now with the bright white trim, the brown walls, and the tan ceiling. OK..we got the ceiling done on Saturday with time to spare! Woo Hoo...so we decided to tackle the next step, removing the carpet.

Uh-oh...I was thinking there was concrete under the carpet. We weren't so lucky. Instead was the old formica type tile under it. Oh well, it won't be that bad, right?

Sunday morning we got up and went to my parents for breakfast (an every Sunday thing for us). Then we went home and started on the floor. Scraping up the tile. OMG! What a pain in the buttinsky! I had the pry bar and a hammer and Hot Rod had this air tool scraper thing my dad lent us. Off to work we went. Scraping, and scraping, and scraping, and scraping, and scraping...

Some of the tiles popped right up (meaning we couldn't have just left them because they would have torn loose and then the wood would have come loose too). Some of the tiles were stuck down so tight it took forever to get them up. But, get them up we did. Unfortunately, this process took almost all day. Between scraping up the floor, removing the carpet tack and all the nails and then cleaning it afterwards, there was not much time left on Sunday. So much for my grand plan to be done by the end of the day. No such luck.

What we did get done was the very hardest thing to do, the starting piece from the bathroom into the bedroom. First we had to tile the step up from the bathroom to the bedroom. It had been covered in carpet. So, out to the barn to find the left over tile from the bathroom and then cut the pieces we need. Hot Rod was figuring out where to place them, leaned back and broke one of them. Ugh! Back to the barn to cut another piece. Then he glued them down so he would know where to lay the threshold piece. Apparently that piece is the key to the entire floor. If it's not right the entire floor won't be right. That entire process (tile to laying the first row of wood) took about 3 hours. By the time we got that first row done it was well after 7:00 pm and we had been bent over and on our knees all day. We got a few more rows done (a total of 6) and then called it a night. When you get too tired you make mistakes and that is not a good thing. So, time to call it a night and start again the next day. Like I said, my plan to be done by Monday didn't work out so well.

So, off to bed we went (by the way we put our mattress and box spring on the floor in the living room throughout the process, so we did have a place to sleep at least during all this!) Monday morning, time to get up and working! We had to finish the floor today. We both had to be back at work on Tuesday so it was important we finish it today! Our son-in-law came over to help and I just can't express enough how much we appreciated and NEEDED his help. I was the designated glue girl, I did all the glue work. A-Man cut the wood and handed them to Hot Rod and then Hot Rod laid the floor down.

Halfway done and looking good!

The floor is finished! Isn't it just amazing! We finished by 6:00 on Monday night. But, we still couldn't move the furniture back in. We had to let the glue sit for 24 hours.

The floor does look incredible though and I love, love, loved it! Then, I moved the furniture back in and the love kinda went away. I just didn't like it anymore. Between the dark wood floor, my dark furniture, the brown walls, the tan ceiling the brown curtains...UGH...all there was is brown, brown, and more brown. I considered it all and just kind of cried. I mean all that work and I wasn't happy. Painting the walls would have been a very easy fix but Hot Rod was adamant that he didn't want to do that. Unfortunately for me, I had just painted the walls not even 6 months ago. So, what to do? Next option, paint the furniture. Another resounding "Oh Hell No" from Hot Rod on that one. Why is it that men get an opinion on their bedroom anyway? When did they make that rule? I would like to argue with that one myself. So, what to do, what to do? Next best thing, bring another color in the room with a rug, curtains, etc. So, I actually took Hot Rod with me to Target and we first found a rug we liked.
It has this really serene color of blue along with the tans and browns. PERFECT! It would match what I already had that I couldn't change and also bring in a light and airy color. Then we went and got curtains to match!
Ah! So much better. After those 2 things everything just fell into place and it went from a nightmare of brown to the tranquil bedroom of my dreams!

I painted the vanity in Heirloom White from Rustoleum. It really brightened up the area tremendously (and got at least one brown thing out of the room! ha ha ha)

I went to Jo-Anns and bought this material to recover the chair and vanity bench. The blue matches the blue from the curtains and the rug perfectly. It also has the browns and tans in there too...an added bonus. Changing the chair cover was so simple and really made a difference.

One view of the room completed.

Then I went back to Target and bought a couple of pillows in the blue color and a blue throw to go on the end of the bed. I already had the brown and cream color pillows and together they all look great. Hot Rod did make a few comments such as "Do we really need that many throw pillows on the bed"...to which I replied "Oh you're probably right, I should get a few more huh?" Silly man!

Then, I had to go to Lowes to find a replacement for the door handle and the light fixture in the vanity area. I really wanted to get one just like above the sink in the bathroom and I even bought one like that but it didn't turn out and I had to return it and get something different. But, what I did find was these matching lamp shades to replace the you got it, brown ones! Aren't they pretty? And the blue was exactly the same. I chanced this one thinking if they didn't match I could just return them because I didn't take the curtain in the store at Lowes like I did at Jo-Anns. I was so pleased that they matched perfectly!

The view looking into the bathroom

Now back to the vanity light. So, I got the light I wanted and had Hot Rod take down the tacky shiny brass one that was there before. Another oh crap moment! Apparently the electrical box was not centered on the wall so my beautiful new light would not work. It would have been way off to the side. So, I took it back and just got another vanity strip light but in a burnished bronze instead of tacky brass. Hot Rod had to do some creative southern engineering to even make this one work but he managed and got it hung just fine. I need to touch up the paint around the edges because this one has a slightly smaller frame so the old paint (green) is showing through in a few spots. You can't really tell from here but it's there and I still need to fix it.

So, there you have it! My new bedroom. I have to say, I'm totally in love with it now.

Now on to the next project...replacing the tile in the hall bathroom tub. Oh the joys of redoing our homes, one project at a time!

Hope this inspired you to tackle a few of your home decor makeovers too. Beauty is just a project away...

MIA

I know, I know...I've been seriously MIA lately haven't I? But, in my defense, this girl has been working her rear end off! Well, at least I wish I was working it off but I have been working, working, working! I decided to take a long weekend this past weekend in honor of MLK day. The Hubs works in the financial industry so they were closed yesterday so I decided to take that day off too. So, what did we do with a long 3 day weekend? Go out of town to a lovely Bed and Breakfast? Nope. Nothing of the sort. We worked on our bedroom. We started on it Friday night by removing all of the furniture. We have some heavy wood furniture so that alone is not a small task. First of all finding some place to put the furniture is a chore and then moving it out. Saturday we started what will now be referred to as "The Big Bedroom Update of 2011"! We started on the ceilings. I have those "lovely" (and I use that term in the most sarcastic tone you can imagine) popcorn ceilings in my home. I'm sick of them and sick of the dirt they accumulate. So, we decided to start here in the bedroom and scrape it off. I went to Home Depot first thing on Saturday morning to find a good scraper and to buy the paint for the ceiling after we finished the scraping. They had a wonderful tool that made the job a breeze. It is made for scraping ceilings and it comes with the scraper and then a built in box like thing that you can attach a bag to it thus catching all of the mess. Well...not all of the mess but the majority of the big chunks for sure fall in there.

Some hints...first of all buy a spray bottle, fill it with just plain water, and then lightly spray the area before you start to scrape. Not only does it keep the dust down but it comes off so much easier. Also, you really have to have the angle right on the scraper which is pretty much even with the ceiling. As a 5'5" woman the only way I could achieve said angle was to climb the ladder. My hubby at 6'1" was able to do it on the ground. Needless to say he did most of the scraping. I did all the stuff that the big scraper would not reach, like around the edges and the light fixtures.

Once the ceiling was scraped, next came the paint. I chose the same paint we used for the bathroom remodel last summer. It is a night caramelly cream color. The painting went super fast and was done in no time. Whew...ceiling done!

We managed to finish the ceiling around 5:00 or 6:00 Saturday night. Then we started removing the carpet. This job didn't go that bad either. Pretty smooth, pretty easy...oh CRAP! Yep, that's the sound I made at about 7:30 on Saturday night. I had forgotten that underneath the crappy carpet is not just the concrete I had hoped would be waiting for us. Oh no...that would make it too simple, too easy...too readily accomplished in a 3 day weekend! Instead of a nice pristine concrete waiting for us was instead the old formica type tile that was on that floor from yesteryear. Oh lovely. OK...we can do this. We just have to scrape off that tile.

Fast Forward to Sunday morning. Time to start scraping...and scraping...and scraping...and scraping...and scraping...and scraping...are we done yet? Oh, that was only the first row and how many rows are there? 27! So, instead of getting to lay our beautiful wood floor down on Sunday instead we spent the entire day prepping the floor for the wood. We got all the tile up but not the black tar light substance that was holding it down. We decided the wood would just have to go on top of it. Once the floor was scraped, Hot Rod started working on the threshold piece of wood between the bathroom and the bedroom. Oh wait...we have to put in some tile. The carpet had gone down the step into the bathroom, so we needed to put up tile to match the bathroom floor so we would know where the threshold piece needed to go. Great, out to the barn to get the tile. Lucky for us we did have left over tile so it was not a big deal. Just had to pull out the wet saw and get to cutting tile. Between having to put the tile up and then cut around the door jambs so that the wood would fit under them we were able to lay the first 6 rows of the wood before we were completely worn out.

So, on to Monday. Time to get a movin, movin, movin! Our wonderful son-in-law came to help and I can't express enough how much we appreciated and needed his help. I was the glue girl, spreading that glue on the concrete like I knew what i was doing. Hot Rod was the measurer and putter-inner of the floor planks and A-Man was the cut man and get-the-plank man. Together, the 3 of us got it done! We laid the last piece of threshold between the hallway and our room at about 6:00 last night. A-Man went home to rest his very hurt knees and Hot Rod and I took a shower and collapsed.

So, the floor is done, the ceiling is done...the room is AMAZING! Unfortunately we ran out of days off though so the rest of the week will be used to clean every thing (since every single thing in my house has a nice thin layer of white sheetrock dust on it) and then move everything back into the room. I can't wait to sleep in my bed tonight in my new room. (We have been sleeping on our bed, it's just been on the floor in the living room all weekend)

Pics to come soon! Promise!!!!!

12 Days of Christmas - Finale

So, I know I kind of dropped the ball on my 12 Days of Christmas, but at least I didn't drop it with my kids. I thought I would summarize the remaining days that I didn't post though.


On the 7th Day of Christmas I gave them 7 emery boards and a holder to keep their nails neat.

I made this by copying one that I got for a gift from one of my lovely stamp club members.

On the 8th day of Christmas they got 8 sticky note pads with a stand to keep them handy. I made the "stand" out of the back of 4X6 frames that I got at Ikea that we used in my daughter's wedding. We had taken all of the backs off and put pictures on vellum in the frames, so I had all these backs left over and kept them. Voila...I found a use for them! They turned out pretty cute. I just covered them with pretty paper, added a clippy and a note pad, stamped a cute image on the first page of the note pad and got this:
I don't have a picture of Day 9...yes I kind of got way behind and just totally forgot. Anywho, I gave them 9 of their favorite cookies when they need a little sweet treat.

Day 10 was another good one though. I made each of them a mini album (came in a kit actually) and then put a $10 gift card from Target. The card said this:

Unfortunately the trip to New York is the trip that wasn't. We got as far as Houston and because of that nasty snow storm we couldn't make it any further. We stayed a day in Houston and then just had to come home. Our trip to New York was a bust. We were all very disappointed. :(

Day 11 was 11 home made gift tags. I made them to match both kids decor, silver for one and bright green and red for the other. They both loved them. I put them in a cute decorative pail that I got in the dollar bin at Target.

And then the last day was truly a big disappointment. I thought I was being so clever too. I made an I Heart NY poster and put it out by the tree on Christmas morning with the tag below. I guess that didn't work out as our trip didn't work out. But it was the thought that counts right?

So, I'm already thinking about what I can do next year...

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

So, Day 6 was another easy one. I just got each girl a 6 pack of Dr. Peppers, put them in cute gift boxes and Ta-Da! Very easy but also very appreciated too.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

On the Fifth day of Christmas my true friend gave to me...Five matching ornaments for my tree!

I didn't actually make any of these ornaments though. We have this wonderful nursery in town that really does it right for Christmas. They have their entire showroom crammed full with decorated trees. So many trees, so many themes, so many ideas! I went and chose 5 ornaments a piece for each of my girls. My youngest daughter has her house decorated in bright greens and red, so I chose ornaments in line with that color scheme...

My oldest daughter has her house decorated in silvers and golds so I chose her ornaments in line with that color scheme as well...

They love their new ornaments and they both said they look great on their tree! Woo Hoo!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

OK, so Day 4 was my easy day. Regardless of that, my kids still really enjoyed them. Here is what I did:
I just went into my stash of home made cards, picked out 4 per girl and voila! Day 4 was done. I chose a Birthday card, a Thank You card, a New Baby card, and a Non-specific card. I really think it was perfect actually. They now have 4 cards to give out whenever they are in a pinch and need a card. I make these cards at card classes I attend from my wonderful Stampin Up and Close to my Heart dealers. I love both of those ladies and those cards are so handy!

Featured on Whipperberry

So, I know I have missed the mark on posting the remainder of my 12 days of Christmas but I do promise I'll post them soon. In the meantime though, guess what? I was chosen as a favorite on the Whipperberry website! Can I hear a Woop Woop? Yep, they liked my ribbon trees. Those weren't actually my favorite either. Just wait until I post the remaining projects I've done. I am just so humbled that they picked me though because the ladies over there at Whipperberry are some pretty amazing women! Thanks!