Fix-a-fan

As I'm whittling away the last touch ups on my big kids room, there are a few little projects that need to get done. One of them is this fan. 

I found it on eBay for an awesome deal. I thought that it was grey, but when it came in the mail, it was decidedly not grey. And looked super old and ugly. Sad face

Old I liked but not ugly. I had this idea that I could take it apart and paint it. But then that seemed like a lot of work so I didn't. Haha!  Then I thought maybe I would just paint it all one color. Looks like that is what the previous owner did. I was all set to do that but when it came time to pull the trigger, I just couldn't. 

So I broke out the tools and disassembled the cage, blade, and switch. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Then I taped off all necessary parts that were still silver and unpainted. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be!

Let me remind you of the before...

And now...

I love it so much!!!!  Let me tell you... Rustoleum spray paint is a miracle worker. Sigh. So go ahead... Take 

something apart and spray paint it!

Living room reveal... FINALLY!

I am pretty much in love with my new living room!  Having it done gives me so much motivation for the rest of the house.  I love having a vision in my head and then using my hands to create that vision... and even better!  When the vision works out!  Because it doesn't always.

Here is our living room before the reno.  

(These are listing pics)

Ive been working on the paint, wainscoting and finishing touches for about 6 months now.  It is finally done!  So here is the finished product!

I LOVE the front door!  It used to be dingy and had some old broken blinds.  Now we have some lovely roman shades and a fresh buttery yellow coat of paint.

Here is a close up of what the doors and moulding looked like before... 

And here they are after!  Sigh... so pretty!  

Chairs

I bought a "new" dining room table and chairs when we moved here. The old one was clunky, didn't fit the space, and I wanted one with leaves to expand. 

Our "new table" is oval, has three leaves to expand (we have to move to the living room to do this) but is nice and compact when it's in the kitchen. It was love at first sight!  But the table is a project for warmer weather. 

Until then, I've been working on the chairs. They are so cool!  So much fun detail.  But they looked a little sad. 

The padding was non existent and stained. And the weird flocked burgundy fabric was not my favorite. 

Luckily, we were getting rid of a memory foam mattress topper!  Perfect!  So I ripped off the old (and SERIOUSLY gross) fabric and gave these chairs a facelift.  

They are so comfy now! And they don't hurt your eyes to look at either.  😜

(I liked the look better without plastic but sadly, I have children... So it's a necessity.)

Summer is at an end and projects are kicking up

It's been an awesome summer!  We have had our Little House on the back burner for a few months while we enjoy the months of warmth before prairie winter sets in. But now we are back to work!  

Ever see one of these?  We are replacing all the outlets in the house, room by room. (No tutorial because I am NO expert and if I steer you wrong it could be dangerous!). I decided to throw one or two of these in here and there. I'm so excited!!! 

I will say this, replacing old outlets isn't hard and there are plenty of YouTube videos to help you out. A lot of ours don't even hold the plugs in. So if you have troublesome outlets, don't be scared!  Give it a try!

Hexagon art table - $40

SOLD

Art table/storage for your little ones art treasures.  Chalk board top makes it safe and fun for littles to draw on. 

Board and batten in the nook

No creative title today. Just my beautiful room and a little tutorial for you!  

In case you missed the first board and batten post... you can find it HERE.

You will learn that I'm not really 100% about doing things the "right" way.  If there is an easier, cheaper or cuter way to do something that is just as well done, I will try to find a way to do it!  I call it my ghetto DIY fixes. If these fail, and sometimes they do, I'll be the first to tell you.  :)  

Here's my before picture.  

I know you are jealous of that light fixture!

I started this project by heading to Pinterest and pinning and researching like crazy!  There are a million tutorials out there for board and batten. I have done it before on a smaller scale on the bathroom of our last house. So I had some experience but it was on one wall... No corners and no other walls to have to match spacing. (Which I will get back to.)

Then I talked to my friend Jess over at Whimsical Treasures. She has the most beautiful wainscoting all over her house.  All different kinds and heights. I would love to just move in to her house.  She have me tons of great tips. I also like this tutorial at make it and love it.  She does it with real board, while I do a faux version.

Next was throwing some paint on the wall. I chalked a line 44" up the wall and painted on either side. You don't have to be perfect because your rails will cover the seam. 

Here's a tricky part. You can use existing baseboards and there are plenty of tricks to make that work.  (Like tapering the bottoms or using a thinner board for the vertical boards). But I hated our baseboards so they are getting thrown to the wood pile.  

I changed them out for pre-primed 1x4 mdf. I love the chunkier look!  

I used pre-primed MDF for all my board and batten. 1x2 for the vertical batens and 1x3 for the horizontal rails. It holds up to abuse so much better than the boards that aren't pre-primed. I don't know why.  Some kind of magic.  

So... I laid out new baseboards.  Then I sat down and mapped my room out and did some measuring and math. And then my brain started hurting. I was trying to find a measurement and spacing that would work for all three walls. There was none. And then I started thinking about how it would space out on the other 4 walls of the living room when I get to that room.  And then my brain hurt some more.  I already had decided the height of my battens (39"). I cut a 12" 1x2 to use as my spacer and marked the wall with it so I could see how the spacing worked out.  It didn't.  So I went back to my notebook and tried again. And again and again. Then I got mad and impatient. I am my fathers daughter after all. 

This is right before I threw my notebook on the floor.

I went to the saw and cut a length that looked good and started nailing boards that far apart. I started in a corner and moved out. While I don't recommend this, it actually worked out perfect for me!  The reality is, that when you are working with this many walls, it isn't ever going to work out for all the walls. But you can fudge the spacing a little so that it still looks uniform. My battens are a little over 14" apart. But on one wall they are almost 15" to make it all look good. You can't even tell.  ;)

As you nail the 1x2 battens, make sure you use a level!  I have a good eye for level. I might even say great.  But I would never not use one for this. So check for level and then nail that bad boy up there! Use your spacer and then nail the next one up.  Easy peasy. 

After all your vertical battens are up, go ahead and lay out the rails. This step is so easy.  Just lay the rail on top of your boards and nail it up. You could miter the corners if you want. I didn't.  They get caulked anyway so no one will ever know. Except you. Because I told you.  ;)

This was all the most fun parts!  Power tools rock. But now you have to put them away and do the tedious work that makes everything so pretty.

First, use putty and fill all your nail holes and seams.  Use the putty and not caulk for this stuff. This way you can sand it down and make it smooth and seamless.  I would err on the side of too much putty.  You can always sand it off.  When it dries, it shrinks a little and if you use too little, you have to go back and add more.

Then take your caulk gun and caulk all the corner seams and wall seams.  EXCEPT THE TOP RAIL/WALL SEAM.  Like how I emphasized that?  That comes last.  Make sure you buy a caulk that is white and paintable. Most people use their fingers to clean excess caulk.  That's lame and messy. Spend a couple dollars and buy this guy at walmart or your local home improvement store. The rubber sides make everything look so pretty!  I keep a stack of baby wipes with me and just wipe it off after every swipe. 

Now we wait. Let your putty and caulk dry overnight.  Next day, sand your puttied seams smooth with fine grit sandpaper and paint everything white. Use a brush or roller or whatever floats your boat. Just be careful with the top of your top rail.  Tape off the wall if you need to.  

Last!  Almost done!  Tape about a 1/4" up from your top rail.  (Just do it. I promise it will make things so much prettier and easier). 

Now lay a line of caulk and smooth it out.  When you're done pull up the tape and let it dry. It looks so perfect!  

All finished.  Here is the finished product. I love it!  The space looks so much brighter and cleaner.  There's a lot of furniture in there since it's now also our home office, but I'm in love!

I just realized I forgot to put back the antlers!  Opps.

What are my faves in here?  

Obviously, the Tune my heart sign!  I love that more than I can say.  I get all my vinyl from Lisa at Iasign.com.  (No sponsors over here... I just love her stuff and it is reasonably priced.  She is also great to work with for custom stuff)

Don't be afraid of my ghost pig.  I thought it would be cute to chalk paint our piggy bank so we could change the label as we reach our goals. It just turned out creepy. But she's growing on me. 

I love my owl lamp! I coveted this from walmart for months before I broke down and bought it and gave it a makeover.  And I found this awesome burlap flower at Hobby Lobby.  WIN!

I'm loving painted mason jars right now! And a little basket for keys etc.

And last, my sweet new light fixture!  That's a whole other post.

I hope this helps if you are looking into tackling a similar project. Don't be afraid! I did this all by myself.  If I can do it, so can you!

Distracted by bright shiny objects...

Oh man!  Am I easily distracted?  

Yeah... I am...

I finished the nook.  It took me longer than expected and more is coming on that one. But first...

My kitchen is a work in progress.  It was seriously horrible. Old oak cabinets, faux brick paneling... And possibly worst of all... No dishwasher!!! I have three kids. That had to happen first thing. Which we did. It isn't dry walled, but has flat paneling.  It's going to take several steps to get it in ship shape condition. 

So, as I said, we installed a dishwasher and painted the horrible paneling and bright orange paint that was on the walls...  Here's what she used to look like.  (Sorry for the horrible before pictures.  I was in such a hurry to paint, I didn't take any.)

The next step was to paint the cabinets.  That's a whole other post.  I thought it would be no big deal.  Wrong.  It's a LOT of work to do it right. 

I'm almost done and last week I got distracted from my nook project by bright shiny objects...

Hardware!  

Oh man... There is so much beautiful hardware out there!  I had a hard time. I want a vintage, cottage-y (that's probably not a word) feel.  I knew I wanted faux crystal knobs.  (I LOVE the look of them. They are just so pretty!) And I knew I wanted bin pulls. But I didn't want them to be bright, shiny and new looking. Most antique or antique look hardware is pretty expensive and, remember, we are on a budget. But eBay came through for me in the end and I am one happy mama!

I ordered the bin pulls immediately because they were soooo perfect. But I wasn't sold on the knobs (they looked a little too grey) so I just ordered one to see what they looked like in real life. Once they got here they totally won me over. I have been working on installing them. I was worried about the bin pulls because I wanted to get the holes just right every time. Since there were no pulls on the drawers before I had to drill new ones and I'm not going to lie... I was a little scared to do it. To remedy this, I made a paper and wood template to help me get it right every time. 

Worked like a charm and here is what it looks like so far.