Friday, July 19, 2013

Mudroom Built-Ins

I am SO excited to finally share this project with you!  Along with building in cabinets and counters in my laundry (coming soon!), this was the heftiest DIY project I have ever taken on. (OK, my husband helped a little too, but only because you can’t mount cabinets single handedly.) I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it turned out!

When we moved in, there was about a six foot empty niche just beyond the laundry room.  Here’s the layout to give you an idea of what I was working with.

Layout

So, I began to dream, and plan, and sketch, and price, and here’s what I envisioned.  (Like everything else in my house, someone spilled something on it.)

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We used some premade (assembly required) Utility Cabinets by ClosetMaid that we purchased from Home Depot on this project.  They were a LOT cheaper than even stock or unfinished cabinetry, and this configuration happened to fit almost perfectly in this space.  They seem very good quality and the TuffShell  powder coating seems like it will be indestructible, which is a big plus in this family! (I got nothin’ from HD or ClosetMaid for this reviow, just my honest opinion.)

First I framed out the bench to span the whole niche, screwing the 2 x 4’s into the studs to make sure everything was super sturdy.  I changed up the spacing of the legs a little to create 4 spaces underneath the bench seat for the shoe bins for each of the kids. Both the legs and a couple of vertical 2x4’s added some additional strength to the bench.  This was probably overkill, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.  ;)

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I pre-stained some 1x8 planks to run the length of the niche and screwed them down to the framing.  Then we started installing the cabinets I had assembled.

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Once the cabinets were up, I started all the finishing work.  I was kind of ADD about this part of the project, because I was getting so excited about how it was turning out.  I ordered these cheapo canvas bins from Walmart and had to put them in place as soon as they came. I started painting and installing trim, but then decided I should do something fun to the back wall before I finished the trim work.  I freestyled a herringbone pattern with some painter’s tape.

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And got ready for some paint!

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Once the herringbone wall got some slate blue paint and the tape came off, I finished the trim work, filled and touched up holes, installed the board with the jacket hooks, and the final touch was painting some grain sack inspired red stripes on the top bins to tie them in and give them some interest as well.  And here it is all finished up!

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This is the view from the living room, down the hall past the kitchen. (It makes me happy.)

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Here’s the view from the master, along with a sneak peek of my FUN laundry room!

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I feel such a sense of accomplishment with this project, and I’m sure we saved so much dough over what it might have cost to hire the job out to a carpenter.  All said and done, I’m sure it came in under $400.

It’s awesome to have all that storage and will be so great to have a place for the backpacks, jackets and all the school stuff once we’re back to school (just around the corner!)

Awesome Mudroom Built-In from Twice Lovely

I hope you like it as much as I do!  :)

Making real headway finishing up the laundry room, so hopefully I’ll be able to share that soon as well!

Linking to:

Chic on s Shoestring, 5 days 5 ways, Chic on a Shoestring, SNAP!, It’s Overflowing, DIY Show Off, I Heart Naptime, Remodelaholic

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Re-do of the China Cabinet turned Entertainment Re-do

Follow that title?

Here’s the story. In my pre-blogging pre-semi-professional-furniture-upcycling days, I bought an old China Cabinet for $40 on CL to revamp to work as our entertainment center.

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I removed the sliding glass doors (not pictured), the center bar thingy and one of the shelves and moved the remaining shelf closer to the top to hold the components. Everything in my house was tuscan and all the furniture was black, so I painted it black and was thrilled to bits with my thriftiness and ingenuity.

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(Yup.  Still had those awesome speakers.)

When we moved into the new house I began the task of lightening everything the heck up.  And the big black hole of an entertainment center was one of the first things to change up (again.)

I gave it a coat of creamy white and changed out the fabric covered panels on the insides and gave it a completely new, light and airy look for the new living room.

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(Why, oh why does my husband love his electronics so?)

The $50 stencil shopping spree giveaway from Royal Design Studio continues through next Tuesday, so get on over an enter if you haven’t had a chance!

I’ll be back tomorrow to share my mudroom build!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Living Room Stencil Project & Royal Design Studio Giveaway!

There was a big design dilemma when we moved into the new house, namely the 2-story ceilings in the main living room.  All the walls were painted a creamy off-white which was a great blank slate, but it left the living room feeling more like a gymnasium than a cozy place for us to hang.

Living Room Before

I came up with a plan to bring those giant walls down into the livable space of the room with paint.  I taped a level line at a little over 12 feet, a little more than half-way to the ceiling, and I painted a horizontal stripe about 5 feet wide of Behr Wheat Bread (a dreamy greige.)

Then began the monumental task of stenciling the  7 feet or so the rest of the way to the baseboards, all the way around the room (thank you very much.)  I should perhaps mention that this is the first time I’ve ever stenciled anything bigger than a drawer or cabinet front.  Go big or go home, people!!  ;)  The process involved moving this little stencil eleventy bazillion times or so.

Stencil

The generous people at Royal Design Studio sent me their Endless Circles Lattice Moroccan Stencil for my project (but I received no other compensation for this review.)

Royal Design Studio's Endless Circles Stencil from Twice Lovely

While this project has also turned out to be endless, I couldn’t be more in love with the design!  I have just a teensy bit left to finish up (behind the robust beast of a computer cabinet to the right there) and I’ll be DONE! (hallelujah!)

Living Room Stenciled

This view gives you a better idea of the scale of the ceiling.

Two Story Ceiling Paint Job with Stencil

(As a side note, I have tried for no fewer than 13 years to convince my husband to get rid of those big, ugly speakers.  They don’t make them like they did in 1990, apparently, so I’m afraid they’re here to stay.  Maybe one of these days I’ll come up with some kind of cute solution to hide them.)

Here’s the view of the living room going up stairs.

Stenciled Living Room

I have some fun fabrics to do some more throw pillows on the couch, but it’s coming together pretty nicely I think!

Twice Lovely Living Room Stencil Project

The final stage of the project will be a lot of trim work.  I plan on adding trim above the gray stripe, beefing up the baseboards a little and adding a picture rail between the gray and stenciled sections (that will be home to the clock sitting on top of the entertainment center and the canvas precariously perched atop the computer armoire, as well as other décor and photos.)

If you’d like to get Endless Circles Lattice Moroccan Stencil or any other of the awesome stencil designs from Royal Design Studio, here’s your chance!  They are offering a reader a $50 shopping spree!  Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.  Just follow the prompts. (The giveaway is open to readers worldwide, but free shipping only extends to winners in the continental United States, so please be advised.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, July 15, 2013

Ivy Green Sideboard

Did I mention I’m in a green phase?  Can’t. Get. Enough!

This was one of the first projects I did once we were in the new house.  I found it on CL for $60 (I KNOW!!) while we were living in a teeny tiny rental house with most of our stuff packed to the gills in the garage.  Mom came to my rescue and let me keep it in her garage for a couple of months.  I’ve always wanted an antique sideboard and so glad to be living in a place that has a place for one!

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It was in rough shape, but with some hard work and love, she turned out to be a beaut!

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I added some of the dark walnut stain as a glaze to antique the finish and bring out the fabulous details.  The cute bright yellow knobs from Hob Lob were the perfect finishing touch, don’t you think? It houses all my kiddos’ craft and school supplies.  I love the extra storage!

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Over the new sideboard I hung an inexpensive dressing mirror horizontally and gathered a collection of thrift store plates in my color scheme to do the amorphic plate wall. 

That fabric piled up there is the basis of the color palette for the great room design and I’ve used it here and there, including recovering my dining room chair seats.  I picked up 3 LARGE drapery panels of this fabric at my favorite thrift store for $5 a piece! It’s a huge amount of really nice heavy weight fabric and I love the bright and cheery color scheme!

living room palette

The walls are painted a combination of a creamy off-white and a warm gray (Behr Wheat Bread), and the room has accents of a deep true red, warm golden yellow, slate blue, ivy green, and touches of black here and there to ground the room. It’s a palette that could get very french country, so I’m trying to play with geometric patterns as well as some modern eclectic elements to keep it fun.

One of the big challenges in the living room are the two-story ceilings, but I really love the solution that I’ve come up with for bringing the giant walls down into the living space of the room. Part of the plan involved my first room stencil project ever, and BOY was it a doozy!! (I should say IS a doozy, since I’m not yet completely done.) The good people at Royal Design Studio helped me out with their fantastic Endless Circles stencil (aptly named for this project), and although it’s completely kicked my butt, I LOVE how it’s turning out! I’ll leave you with a little sneak peek, and be back tomorrow with a full reveal as well as a chance to win your very own $50 shopping spree at Royal Design Studio.

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Friday, July 12, 2013

Quirky Acid Green Desk

This is another project I finished up before the move and never posted.  An awesome roadside castoff with personality to spare.  SO glad she was given a new lease on life and not rotting in a landfill somewhere!

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(… and I think this might just win the prize for the worst before picture ever taken.  I must have had too much coffee that morning.)

With that fun shape, it definitely needed a fun color and knobs, and that it got!

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Don’t you love the little library pulls?

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I think I’m in a green phase.  I’m just in love with everything green right now.  Every shade.

As a little bonus, here’s another (yes, it’s green too) project I did as a present for my lovely littlest sister.  A fun jewelry armoire!  I don’t have the before pic, but hopefully the awesomeness of the afters make up for my failure. ;)

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I love the vivid green and blue combo, don’t you?

I’ll be back soon with some of my new house projects!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Antique Receipt File Cabinet

I’m not going to lie.  I’ve been in a blog funk.  It’s been project MANIA, but the blogging has definitely been last on a very long list of to-dos for quite a while (since deciding we were going to try and sell our house last October.) 

So I thought over the next several days I’d catch you guys up on a few things that I’ve done but failed to blog about in the last, I don’t know… 10 months. (Sheesh! I’m embarrassed to even write that!) I’ll also catch you up on some projects for the new house, decorating plans, epic first stenciled room undertaking, and some big builds for my mudroom (which is finally DONE!) and my laundry room (on the cusp of done.)

To wet your whistle, here’s an amazing piece I found and refinished last October. 

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It had a marking that it was from the McCaskey Register Company, and I did a little research and found it was used to store receipts. 

It was just dry, dry, dry.  Not a lick of moisture in the wood or the leather top, but so cute and unique!  I’d never seen anything like it.  And it had this neat little roll top compartment with metal, alphabetical, file dividers!

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It turned out so beautifully when the tiger oak got some stain!

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The rest got a nice duck egg blue with a dark walnut stain glazing, and it turned out so lovely!  It was actually bought by CeCe Caldwell, herself, who recently moved to my very own home town, of all places!

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More to come!  Going to go out on the porch and soak up some of this awesome monsoon storm!

P.S. – Did you notice I FINALLY updated my headshot on the sidebar over there?>>>>>>>> A big thank you to my honest to goodness bff, Tiffany of Tiffany Lee Photography for making me look good.  :)