Living room plans

I’ve neglected the back living room for a while now. I tore down the fug wallpaper when we first moved in and repainted. I’ve also fixed the floors in that room and painted some of the trim. I did try out some black paint on the walls and I’ve patched up other parts of the walls. Notice I didn’t say I painted though. So we’ve been living with splotches of black and white on the walls and today I decided to fix it. It looks so much better.

So now other parts of this room are on my list and we’ll be doing it in the next month or two. I have… ambition. Maybe it’s a little too high. IDK, but I’m willing to find out. I will be fixing the rest of the bad plaster spots, removing the book cases on the back wall, removing the built up fireplace surround that was improperly done, removing the closet you see in this photo, replacing the trim, painting the ceiling and ceiling trim, removing the fan, sanding the floors and adding more poly, recovering my couches, adding doors and more.

It’s a long list but each project is doable. I think. I’m scared about the closet, but I think I can do it!

Edited: August 24th, 2010

1950s custom couch

I went shopping the other day and picked up a chandelier. I also snagged a super cute 1950s retro mad men ish couch. I made sure Cody and Jordan both liked it and that they were willing to bring it home for me. The salvation Army in Warrensburg, MO is literally just down the street and we don’t have a truck so bringing it home meant hoofing it.

I’m a lucky girl because both guys agreed to carry it home.

They stopped for breaks every now and then because it was heavy.

Eventually it came to rest in my yard and eventually moved in to the house too.

We thought it was funny there and may bring the couch outside for the UCM homecoming parade (which goes right past my house). I’ll take some better photos of it later, but it’s a custom piece made in Detroit in I believe the 1950s. It could be 1960s. It’s in good condition though and was… $42! For a couch! that’s not craptastic!
it’s going to look amazing in our back living room once Udom moves out and I gut the room. I’m painting the ceiling and trim white, removing bookcases and a closet, putting up better bookcases, removing a death trap fireplace, and painting the room black. It’ll be bitching. Can’t wait to actually do it!

Edited: August 14th, 2010

Verdigris Chandelier

The front living room needed another light and I’ve been on the lookout for another chandelier. I went to the Salvation Army with Jordan today to show him a couch and there then complained that there were no chandeliers. I took Cody to the Salvation Army a couple hours later to ask if he liked the couch and there was a chandelier there! YAY!

It was fake bronze stuff, but it looked neat. I knew i’d have to rewire it because it had no wires hanging out of the top. It’s okay though because I wanted to make it a plug in lamp anyway. I think the white chain will need a cover, but I can live with that.

I couldn’t age it because it wasn’t real bronze or brass, so I turned to spray paint. This is the same color I used on my candelabra and on my little table only this time I did light coatings of it and didn’t cover the whole thing. The light coating of green paint on brass/bronze fixtures made it look old and verdigrised. I then used a sample of wallpaper to cover the little “candle” tubes and put in round light bulbs. We like it.

I love the way it turned out though! It was part of my thrift store shopping today (yes, I did get that couch… and 2 newsboy hats for my youngest). Cody and Jordan are actually lugging the couch home tomorrow since it’s just down the street and easier than asking someone to borrow their car. I heart those guys

So, cost breakdown:

$5.25 for chandelier (normally $7.50 but 30% off today)

$2.25 wiring kit (normally $20ish but clearanced)

$0 spray paint (left over from another project)

$13.50 light bulbs

So the total without light bulbs is $7.50 or  $21 if you include the bulbs. Either way, it’s a smoking deal on a light fixture.

Edited: August 13th, 2010

Countertops, book lamps, and pipe shelves

Cody and Udom are at a friend’s going away party but I didn’t go because I didn’t want to leave Jordan home alone. He’s recovering from wisdom teeth removal… it was a lovely time and I’ll write more on that in another post.

So since I’m home, I may as well do a couple projects right? First project was a tile removal job. One of our kitchen countertops had this weird tile scene on it that (once again) was badly done. Several of the tiles popped off the other day and we noticed that the thin set came off with them showing us painted wood underneath.

Thank you previous owner for doing a shabby job. It makes removing it so much easier…

So we removed the tiles in less than 5 min. I scraped off the remnants of thin set while Cody loaded the dishwasher. I stripped, sanded and stained the counter top today. It looks like this now.

Excuse the poor camera photo quality photo but I can’t find my normal camera.

Next up on the list was making a lamp. Cody called it “a little light reading” because he’s a dork. It’s made of two books and lamp parts.

I set it on top of another stack of books and no one could tell. I heart it!

And moving on, I also started staining my pipe shelves in the kitchen today. It’s not done yet, but they’re looking better. They now match the floors and the counter top.

yes, that’s another camera phone picture and it is exactly how my kitchen is right now.

It was a productive day though. I loved it. Looking forward to move stuff tomorrow. What have you been doing?

Edited: July 31st, 2010

Sage Gray Bookish Table

I bought several things at the Salvation Army the other day and this table was one of them. Good bones, but the finish was way scratched up. I liked the brass tipped feet, glass covered top, right height, and $15 price tag. It came home with the candelabra, tray, and brass plant holder the other day. You’ve seen the candelabra already, Let me show you my table.

BEFORE:

It doesn’t look so bad in that photo, but trust me when I say it was bad! So I decided to fix it up a bit. First i spray painted it purple. Then I decided I didn’t like the purple so I painted it the same color as my candelabra. I heart it. I put blue fabric under the glass and decided I didn’t like it so I put random book pages instead.

To do the bookpages, I just put them all around the table top, put the glass on top and used a razor to cut the excess page sections off. It looked like this

Later, I’ll add the pile of stubs and programs Cody and I have around the house. For now, it looks like this.

I put it in the front living room. It sits by my reading spot on my 1960s couch. I put the copper tray I bought on top so my drinks can go there. It also has room for extra books, my robot specimen I picked up at ConQuest, and a candle holder. I heart it. Perfect height! And frankly, I made it look freaking amazing. It’s one of those spots in my house that makes me smile every time I see it and NOT just because I freak the guys out when they come home and I’m sitting there. hahahaha

Looking at this photo makes me realize I need to take the rolled up screens out of the corner and find a new home for them. They’re visually cluttering up the joint

Edited: July 29th, 2010

Pretty in Pink

It’s the little things that make me happy and I’m not quite sure this lamp make over it doing it. I painted it pink to match the pink felt I put in a frame and I’m not quite sure I like it. Maybe I just don’t like it because I’m so used to the copious amounts of blue in my house? I’m trying to  change it but I think it’ll take time for me to get used to it.

The Lamp started out pale teal and now it is PINK!

I like the pop of color it gives that area and it does match my flower picture. I think it can stay for now. It does match my new message board rather well no?

The message board is made out of pink felt and foam core backing in a vintage (ie CHEAP) huge wood frame that has been in the basement a while. I can now use it to thumb tack up various things of inspiration and reminding. It gives a spot of color to my other wise very blue room.

Edited: July 26th, 2010

My boys are home

The boys are home from their grandparent’s Arizona homes. They hung out with several Papas, one Oma, and loads of other extended family. They swam up a storm, argued over who got what microbe from think geek, saw the grand canyon caverns, made a whole living room in to a fort and so much more. It was apparently quite the amazing time for them and I’m glad they could do something fun this summer.

They had an uneventful flight home. I picked them up at the gate and was pleasantly surprised when two different people came up to me at different times to ask if I was their mom. They both seemed surprised the purple haired chick was the mom but they both also told me how wonderfully behaved the boys were on the flight and that it was so nice to find well behaved young children. It made me happy. I love when people compliment me on the boys’ behavior, makes me feel like Cody and I are doing well ya know?
Today is too warm for a picnic at the park so we’re chilling with the pups and reading books.

This is currently my favorite spot and it’ll be better (and cooler) once i put up shades or curtains. We bought shades but they’re the wrong size for the window (ty Cody) so they stay up until you pull on t hem to make them longer. It’s annoying. I’ll figure it out later though and fix it. Until then, I’m going to have a really cold bottle of Mexican Coke with the boys and read our various books

Edited: July 22nd, 2010

Sanding Plaster Walls

I’ve been (very) slowly working on our stairwell in the house. The walls needed to have the trim and wallpaper removed. the trim didn’t go the entire stairway nor was it on every wall, it was up at a weird height too. The wallpaper also wasn’t on all the walls. It annoyed me. So I slowly started removing it but the walls were damaged from the copious amount of nails POs put in to keep the light weight trim up. /sigh

So I had to plaster various parts of the wall. I loved removing the wallpaper though because the wall color under it is basically the color I painted the front living room. It validated my color choice which made me happy. It’s Lowe’s historic fairmore penthouse mosaic blue or as we call it “lie to me blue” and i love it.

When you plaster, it’s never completely smooth which means I had to sand it smooth. Kind of a pain in the butt, but doing so makes the walls look so much better. I sand with two different grits of sandpaper and despite having a canister to catch the mess, my house ends up fogging whenever I sand plaster. It’s annoying

I can’t paint just yet because I still have several walls to fix. It’s okay though. It’ll get done this weekend and then I can paint the stairwell and hang up pictures to make it pretty again. The current state has really been bugging me but I’ve been unmotivated to do much of anything lately. I’m working on it though

Edited: July 22nd, 2010

Pipe and Wood shelf project

I saw the shelf project from The Brick House and fell in love. Alas, I wasn’t sure of where to put it and didn’t want to rush in. Having made the mistake of rushing to do a project just so I could do the project, I put the shelf thing on the back burner until this year. I know they’re not everyone’s style, but I really like the form and function of them.

The front living room is coming together nicely. I like the spot where the couch is and that it offers me a place to sit while I put on or remove shoes. I also like where the piano is now and although it’ll leave this year when Udom moves out, I already know what I will put there instead. Which brings me to the book shelves. See, no one really uses the front living room. The boys don’t play in it, our friends don’t usually hang in it etc. and yet all of my business supplies and the tv are crammed in to the back living room. This must change! So I’m moving my business stuff to the front living room and I’ll add a desk when Udom moves out.

Today though, today we built book shelves. The project came in at about $180 due to a military discount (ty Jordan). It was mildly frustrating at first since stuff wasn’t going together properly but Cody figured it out and my project was saved. I used a Kona colored stain on the wood because it’s the same color we stained the floor.

And finally after some tears and mishaps, it came together and looks pretty. Things we learned? WD40 everything before you put it together. Don’t mess with the measurements on the plan unless you want some frustrations. Make darn sure you know all the parts you need or you end up going to Lowes 5 times in one day… Anyway, it was worth it. No?

I’m sure I’ll tweak it some more, but for now it’s fine. I have to hang up the pictures that are on the shelves and put a pinboard in the big empty frame. I also have some other things to put out here, but it’s holding a lot of my craft supplies and that makes the guys happy. Pretty and functional… and something about getting my crap off the floor?

Here’s the link if you want the brick house one which is 8 feet 8 inches by 7 feet 6 inches tall and here’s the supply list if you want my altered version.

The unit is 7’ wide by roughly 7′6″ tall and 11 1/4″ deep

Here is the supply list:
Plumbing pipe and fittings (all at 1/2″)

Fittings:
14  – 90º elbows
11 – 3-way tees
6 – Base flanges

Pipe:
5 – 12″
6 – 18″
2 – 30″
1 – 42″ (Custom cut at Lowes)
10 – 8″
3 – 9″ (black gas pipe for the top flange wall connectors)

Wood Shelves
3 – 1″ x 12″ x 10′ pine planks (cut down to 7’)
1 – 1″ x 12″ x 6′ pine planks (cut down to 3’6”)

Minwax Stain
1 – Kona Colored

Edited: July 5th, 2010

Front living room

My house became… messy… yes, messy… while we were preparing for Origins 2010. I’ve slowly been cleaning it up and rearranging so that the house is pretty again. It was to the point where I didn’t want anyone over because the house embarrassed me! So I figured if it was bad enough that I didn’t want my friends over, it was time to do something about it. I started with the front living room since it’s the room you see from the door and worked my way out.

First, I painted that last bit of wall (finally) so it is now blue too.

Next I moved the couch to the area behind the door and replaced my mirror with a embroidered flower picture.

Then I moved the piano to in front of the fireplace, took down the giant clock, and put plants in the fireplace.

I’ve got some other rearranging to do and I’m selling some furniture, but it’s a start. I at least don’t shudder when the doorbell rings!

Edited: July 3rd, 2010