Home Ideas

DRESSER LESSONS OR THE LONGEST PROJECT EVER!

My Goodwill Art Deco Dresser project was a long one, but I now have some great clothes storage, along with shoes and a jewelry cabinet on the armoire side. A nice addition to my home office.

WEEKEND WINE CABINET

The wine refrigerator took up the entire counter space. Plus, the cabinet door doesn't match my new cabinets that were put in after my kitchen disaster of having a whole wall of upper cabinets pull off the wall. (See previous posts.) I loved the idea of having one more open cabinet with the wine refrigerator below, giving a "poor girl's look " of a built in wine refrigerator.

The D-Man helped me move out the refrigerator and once the cabinet was empty, we drilled a hole in the side of the cabinet to run the cord through. Other than that, the most time consuming part was cleaning behind the refrigerator! Not something I do more that once a year so it was nasty!

The pull out drawer underneath the shelf now holds my soup and chili crocks. The counter top above now gives me room to put pans from the stove, or do some food prep. With the D-Man and I starting to do more cooking, my stove and the kitchen has been used more this year than in almost the 20 years I have owned the home. I am looking forward to doing more organizing and making my little house even more comfortable and stress free.

GLOWING ORANGE LIVING ROOM

A new all in one, fireplace and media center, a dark orange and more organized entry way and the couch that Kody loves to crash on. The new lighter orange color on the walls actually glows at night and makes for a super relaxing living room, great for watching TV and just relaxing!

HOME OFFICE BEFORE

The home office had become a dumping ground for anything that didn't have a home. No work was being done on the desk and the electric yellow color was more overwhelming than inspiring.

HOME OFFICE AFTER

The office now, with a new desk, a new blue color with orange accents and a little rearrangement of some furniture. The room in my house that I used the least has gone to the room in my house I use the most!

THE KITCHEN CABINET DISASTER AFTER

The upper cabinets are not an exact match to the lowers. Unfortunately, the cabinets I had were discontinued, so at some point, I may replace the lowers. The photo on the right actually has the one survivor of the cabinets that fell off the wall. It is the cabinet closest to the window and you can also see it in the before photo below. The other cabinet had a door, but I decided to remove it and have that whole side be open cabinets. It breaks up some of the dark wood and it also lets me show off some of my more decorative glasses.

THE KITCHEN CABINET DISASTER

On the left, the cabinets before they fell off the wall. The middle photo, the wall now and on the right, some of the damage. Next up, getting the replacements up!

SAMANTHA'S NEW MID CENTURY MODERN HOME

The photo on the left is what I started with, Cute design, but falling apart, sitting on a portion of the old deck we replaced this summer. The new house on the right, made from the new deck's left over materials and a parquet floor. The floor is really stick on tiles from Home Depot bought at 50 cents a piece.

The new mid century modern house at night. The roof is from some plywood, painted pink with some leftover paint I had in the garage. The hanging light is a Christmas sphere I bought last year at Walmart for $20.00. Battery operated, it gives off a nice light at night.

On the left, a side view with the window I salvaged from the old house spray painted a bright blue. On the right, Sami hanging out in her new home, total new material cost less than $80.00.

MY OUTDOOR LIVING ROOM

An old dumpster dive kitchen cabinet, dressed up with leftover decking and bamboo place mats has second life as an outdoor place to serve drinks. Another concrete support, with the support brackets turned upside, holds a candle. Some leftover slate stones from another part of the yard, dress up the front of the deck.

The back garden, trimmed in leftover joists and concrete support blocks I sprayed painted silver. On top, solar rock lights, also spray painted silver.

The remains of the old deck and the beginning of the new one.

A TROPICAL LIVING ROOM FOR END OF SESAON PRICES!

I found a great rattan table at Goodwill for ten dollars! The glass top was missing, but I am looking for a great round tray that I can put on the top. I moved the stool that was in between the chairs to another corner and found a fish pillow on end of season sale and now I have another sitting spot for Kato and any guests. The new chair cushions are another end of season outdoor cushion find. The old eggplant ones didn't really bring out the chairs tropical vibe. My new discovery is pillow covers, so you can change out any pillows with great colors, all for around five dollars from IKEA. I got two green ones and I will be going back for more. I love the outdoor cushions, pillows and washable pillow covers because with animals and me just being a chronic "spiller" of beverages, they clean up so much easier!

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND COLOR THE PATIO PROJECT

Drab patio furniture, a blue color ball and blue table for some inspiration and a lot of spray paint! My deck is ready for summer!

CELEBRATION PILLOWS

Found these two great pillows at Walmart for under twenty dollars and they found a home in a sunny corner of my home office!

My home office is the only room in my house where I regret my wall color choice. The electric yellow is really too much! Add to that, I sometimes try on clothes in there and the yellow the walls give off can actually skew what color things really are, depending on the time of day. Not only do I love the tropical flip flop print of these pillows but I love the colors! I am thinking about using the color scheme as inspiration for a new wall color.

DON'T BUY, CREATE!

A friend of mine from Wisconsin recently moved into a new apartment and he has done a great job of making his new place into a home! What really impressed me was he did it creatively without spending a ton of money. Since having my own personal financial meltdown a few years back, I have FINALLY figured out that creating something is much more satisfying than buying something. Check out some of the great projects he came up with.

His first challenge was a big, blank kitchen wall. Buying a big piece of artwork would have cost a fortune, so instead, he created this great little wall mural.

Instead of buying a kitchen island, he took a great cutting board he already had and attached legs and a shelf. Next time I am in town, I expect a great meal!

He was on a roll creating great wall artwork, so he moved on to the bathroom for this great stencil.

LAMPSHADE MAKEOVER

Getting ready for a busy weekend, but I am never too busy to add color to my living space. Remember the $4.99 cream colored lamp shade I got at the Goodwill a couple of weeks back? For another $4.00 spent on Krylon Colormaster Ivy Leaf spray paint, I now have a custom colored lampshade that goes great in my Hawaiian vibe living room.

WHAT DID I DO WITH MY 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND?

Besides going to see Brad Pitt fight zombies (liked World War Z a lot), eating a fantastic hot dog (L.A. works dog at The Only Place In Town in Sierra Madre) and catching a few fireworks, I found a new love! His name is KRYLON INDOOR/OUTDOOR HIGH GLOSS SPRAY PAINT! Four cans at Walmart (two in Forest Green and two in Watermelon Pink) came to under $15.00 and I was off spraying the world! Hopefully that zombie virus doesn't hit soon so I can enjoy my new creations! I also found a couple of great treasures shopping, so all in all, a great holiday!

I used the Forest Green to freshen these chairs. Now I have great outdoor seating around the fire pit.

These outdoor tables when from Bland Sun Faded Pink to super fabulous Watermelon Pink!

My terra cotta fountain is now Watermelon Wonderful!

THE SHOPPING FIND OF THE WEEKEND...

My shoes had started taking over the whole front doorway, so I wanted to find a shoe caddy. After searching at all the major places and finding everything with substance in the $40.00 range, I made a stop at Goodwill and found my new "shoe home" for $9.00! A little black paint on the sides and shelves to tie it into my decor and it was ready to go.