Man vs. Wife Decoration Date Night

JT and I were trying to do something fun for date night on Friday and as a foodie all my ideas included eating out. We wanted to do something different from just going out to eat so my dear man came up with the brilliant idea to write names of different areas in the house and with a budget of $50 come up with something to put in that room. I really wanted the 2^nd guest room and JT wanted the Living Room… well, I got the Kitchen and he got the Guest Room (slightly upset wife). We gave each other 30 minutes to come up with a design plan and off we went to buy the materials.

I decided to red-do the knife block in the Kitchen because I saw a similar design here  with a green color scheme that fits our kitchen and included my favorite color Purple.

 I spent about $15 total so I was way under budget. The items I used for the knife block are

• Medium sanding block
• Multi-surface spray primer
• Indoor/Outdoor Spray paint
• Polyurethane spray (already had this at home so it was not part of my budget)
• Newspapers

There are numerous tutorials online and you can find different ideas on the internet.

Well, here is what I ended up with and I was not too happy with it.

Before

Materials Used

After 1 coat of Primer and 2 Coats of Paint

 JT on the other hand put up curtains in the guest room which I have been convincing him to do.. He did spend very close to the limit but I say he won the challenge.

Guest Room with Curtains

While I was out of town, JT looked at my browsing history to find the exact knife block I was looking at. He found a match and bought extra accessories to give me something close to what I wanted. He put in two nights of work sanding, priming, painting, waiting for paint to dry, and painting again.  

This is what I saw when i returned home....I’m such a lucky girl. 

 

Knife Block Re-Done

Love It !!!!!

 

Ottoman Re-finishing / Dog Shaming

We got a lovely leather ottoman as a wedding gift and we were so excited because we could store our blankets and random knick knacks in it.

During the bad weather storms we had a few weeks ago, we left the dogs free in the house to keep them nice and warm. Well this is what happened.

Ottoman Chew Toy

 And here is a “mug shot” of the guilty party

He thought it was a giant chew toy

 There are a few red items in the living room so we got some patterned red material, took the top apart and re-finished the top of the ottoman.

Taken Apart

Attached the material with a staple gun

Looking pretty

We put piping around the edges

Attached the base

All together, not such a bad look

 We didn’t really feel the finished product so we took it all apart again. We got some blue Vinyl from the fabric store, upholstery pins and a rubber mallet to refinish the ottoman again. 

Below are pictures of the refinishing with the blue vinyl. We are in love with the pop of color this blue adds to our living room.
 

Ottoman cover re-done

Tired helpers/destroyers in the background

covering up the chewed up edges for a smooth finish

Almost done

Adding the gold trim with the rubber mallet

Finished Product

Our throws and blankets have a home once a again :)

Hint of Turquoise

This was a fun project to do. We pray the puppy doesn't destroy anything else but it was fun to try out ways to not throw this ottoman away especially as it was a wedding gift from a very dear family friend.

XOXOX
 

 

Laundry Room Remodel

2013 is starting off to be a very busy year for us but we have been able to get some home improvement projects done. I have always wanted to paint more walls in the house but we decided to take it slow. 

Impressed by how the master bedroom turned out Ty and I decided to paint the laundry room. Since the wedding, I have been obsessed with orange and purple. We wanted the laundry room to be bright and beautiful so we decided to go with orange. While looking for ways to accessorize the orange color and if it would even look good, we came upon this website via Pinterest. 

We also came across this stenciled washer and dryer on Pinterest and Ty was actually okay with it. We tried to look for another damask stencil but ended up using the same one. Thanks How to Nest For Less for the amazing ideas.

Below are pictures of the process of the laundry room transformation which included

• Painting the walls orange (We used Hacienda Tile by Valspar)
• Silver Wash & Dry (Hobby Lobby letters & Krylon Aluminum spray)
• Ironing board cover( cloth and fasteners  from Joann’s)
• Stenciled Washer & Dryer (Donatella Damask Stencil, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, and rust-o-leum polyurethane spray) 

Messy laundry room side wall

"front view" of laundry room

Everything is out and almost ready for work to be done

Hacienda Tile Paint

Testing the paint on the wall... Looks BEAUTIFUL!!!

Getting ready to spray paint the letters

Spray Painted with 2 coats and waiting to dry

Not so pretty ironing board. Ty has had this thing for like 10 years

Supplies: fasteners, stretchy board cover and cloth

Nice blue cover, we could have stopped here but where's the challenge in that?

Fitting the cloth

Ironing board cover.. Yay !!!!

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Donatella Damask Stencil from Royal Design Studio

Wouldn't you want to do laundry in these.... I do !!!!!!

"Front" view

Side view

Before & After "Side" view

Before & After "Front" view

Here is our beautiful laundry room. This is the first thing we see when we come into the house through the garage. It is such a lovely sight to welcome us home. We accessorized with the silver and brown baskets and hung the ironing board and iron on the wall. 

Looking forward to doing loads of laundry now.......