Mini-Makeover: Bookshelves

We had a weekend full of smallish projects.  On Saturday, dad & I spent a few hours in the attic insulating.  Although the attic is completely unfinished, the previous owners did have it insulated fairly well.  There were just a few areas where we chose to add some extra insulation - mainly the line where the roof meets the main level walls.  Which means that it was 4 itchy hours of sliding around on our backs under the eaves.  Fun stuff!  The good news is that we're now toasty warm, framed up, & ready to wire!

The next job I tackled was a lot less physical & only took about 20 minutes!  Grady has a built-in bookcase in his room that was being completely overrun with his books.  I had tried a few months ago to arrange them by color, but that method just wasn't working for several reasons.  I'm all about organizing by color (my closet is color coded), but the boys in my life sadly are not!  Here's a shot of what the shelves looked like before I started - yikes!

Excuse the photo quality...Grady's room is SO dark at all times of the day & this photo was taken at night to top it off.  Anywhoo, you get the idea!

I started by taking every single item off the shelves & organizing them by size on the floor.  I also eliminated all of the books on the top shelf as they're chapter books that will be too old for him for several years anyway.  Might as well free up that space for something that he actually uses/can enjoy, right?  There was also a stack of 10 or so books that were either repeats, or that he & I didn't really care for that will either go to his cousin or in the garage sale pile.

 

 After sorting everything by size, I just loaded it all back onto the shelves in random stacks.  It's not perfect, but it doesn't hurt your eyes to look at either!  

P.S. The folding ruler in the above shot is actually what we use as Grady's growth chart.  We just unfold it, have him stand in front, & mark off how tall he is with a Sharpie right on the ruler.  It extends to 6.5 feet, so it should last at least through junior high!  I love how it's simple, not obnoxious, & is completely portable!

Isn't it insane how just taking out the chapter books & a small stack of books that we don't read freed up SO much space (for more books!)???

Lumberjacks & Jack-O-Lanterns

How can you not love Halloween?  Especially if you're a parent.  It's seriously the best thing ever watching your child/children have such a great time dressing up, getting free candy (a LOT of it), & seeing friends in their costumes...

Last night was perfect out.  A little chilly, but not so cold that you had to cover up those spooky costumes with winter coats.  I remember a couple of Halloweens when I was little that there was even snow on the ground...brr!

Our little lumberjack had a blast!  Dad had to work late (life of a college coach...sigh), so I took off work early so we could get our costumes on, pick up grandma, & head over to the ECFE Halloween party for a little while before trick-or-treating.  We had fun with the crafts, but I think Grady will probably be too old to attend next year...he just wanted to get to the candy part!

Those little teeth peeking out of the beard kill me...haha!

He's a natural!  Great form, kid!

After the party, we walked a couple of streets in our neighborhood & even found Santa's house...as in the Santa that comes to our mall each year!  He totally commits to the role...year round, real beard & long white hair & all!  It was hilarious to hear all of the kids yelling, "thanks, Santa!" after they got their candy...I think they wanted to make sure he knew that they had good manners!  :)  (Side note: Notice Santa's tattoo...he usually shows up to his mall duty in his biker jacket...did you guys know that Santa rides a Harley?!)

So stoic & manly!

We hope you all had as much fun as we did last night!  :)

Pinterest Challenge - Chalk Board Map!

Since Sherry & Katie started the Pinterest Challege over a year ago, I've been wanting to participate. I just didn't have the time...until now!  Ok, I lied, I still didn't have the "extra" time, but I made it happen because this project just had me so darn excited!

Anywhoo...a couple of months ago I pinned a picture of a chalkboard map from Terrain.  (I can't seem to find the map on their website anymore...it was there last week I swear!)  After hearing about the new edition of the Pinterest Challenge, I immediately googled "Chalkboard Map" & came up with a few other inspiration pieces.  (Links below.)

1. Chalkboard map at Terrain. (Can't find it?)  Update: found the link!
2. Vintage Rand McNally Chalkboard map.  Several results on google search.
3. Chalkboard map from Smile & Wave.
4. Military map from Restoration Hardware. (No longer available.)

Ok, so after I collected my inspiration pictures, I decided that I wanted a green "chalkboard" with the water painted a different color...most similar to the vintage Rand McNally map.  I started out by purchasing a yard & a half of heavy duty duckcloth (canvas) & a Sharpie paint marker at Joann, as well as green chalkboard paint from Menards.  I also sketched out a map in Illustrator, which I then converted to B&W & printed on a transparency.  Instead of trying to draw out the whole US freehand (nightmare), I can just shine the image onto the canvas using my overhead projector - easy peasy!

Here are a few of my illustrations...if you want to download a free .pdf of any of them, just click on the links below!  All I ask in return is that you go out & vote in November!  ;)

Links to the Green map, white map, black map.  My gift to you, fellow Americans!  :)

My little helper had fun coloring in all of the states.  He can now pick out Minnesota & California 90% of the time.  Hopefully his new map will help him learn the others!

After I determined the approximate size I wanted the map to be (it's big...52ish inches wide by 48ish inches tall), I cut it to size & hemmed up the two sides.  I left the top & bottom edges raw as I planned to staple them to wood dowels later.  No sense finishing them off only to have them get covered up!  I just folded each side twice so the hem was around an inch wide & sewed(?) two seams on each one, about 1/4" from each edge, if that makes sense at all. 

Grady stripped down to his skivvies & helped me prime this big sucker.  Isn't his shadow creepy with the giant furry head & tiny arm?!  It reminds me of a fetus with hair.  I'm weird, I know...I hear it every day!  :)

Next up, we took it into the kitchen to paint a couple of coats of green Rustoleum chalkboard paint.

The puckers in the fabric had me a little nervous, but things smoothed out (literally & figuratively) after we hung it on the wall to trace everything out!

After two coats of the green dried overnight, I taped the canvas back to the wall, lined up the projector where I wanted it, & traced out the map with my paint marker.  (At this point I didn't worry about getting the white perfect, I knew I'd be painting over some of it with the "water" color, & having to touch it up anyway, so I decided to wait & do the second coat/tracing all at once at the end.)

The paint marker dried really quickly, so I was able to crank out two coats of the "water" pretty much right away.  I kept going back & forth on what color to use, & ultimately decided on using some charcoal gray paint that I had on hand.  It ended up looking a little more brown than gray (lighting?), but I'm super happy with it!

After the two coats of charcoal, I traced over all of the white outline again to make it a little bit more opaque.  I also had my dad cut a couple of pieces of scrap wood to create a top & bottom to the map.  On the bottom section, I had him router out a ledge to store a few pieces of chalk - love it!  I stained the top & bottom supports with some leftover stain from the breakfast bar on the porch & stapled the canvas to the back of them.  Then I just attached some picture hangers & hung it on the wall!

Ta-da!  I wanted to take a photo of the whole dining room, but the sun was hardly up before I left for work this morning so I just didn't have enough light!  I'll try to update with a full room shot tomorrow!

I can't wait to plot out roadtrips, play "name-that-state" with Grady, & doodle national landmarks!  Plus, I finally have a giant piece of "art" to fill that empty space on the dining room wall!  Thank you Katie & Sherry for getting me motivated!!!

Update: I snuck home over lunch & conditioned the map by rubbing chalk all over it and wiping off.  She's ready to rock!

I'm liking it after rubbing the chalk all over it...it has a nice patina now!

And of course, the room shot I promised...

Fall filler...

We've been busy around these parts!  I've been cramming to finish a special project by tomorrow, so I haven't had much time for anything else in the past week.  We have made room for some more fall fun though.  It's funny how raking the yard doesn't seem like such a chore when you get to jump in a giant pile of leaves at the end!  (It's also easier to recruit help when you have something to look forward to!)

Enjoy the pictures...I'll be back with a project post tomorrow!

Zig Zag quilt update

I finished the front of the quilt this week - woohoo!  I was a little worried about how it was all going to piece together, but everything actually lined up quite well!  I think it's a tad longer on the right side, but I don't think it's real noticeable...and you surely won't be able to tell when it's on a bed.

Next up, figuring out what the heck I'm going to do for the back of it, getting some batting, quilting the thing, and finally binding it.  Not sure what I'm doing at all, but how bad can it be, right?  (Famous last words...)

Update: Here's the finished quilt!

The bath tub from...you know where.

What's haunting me this Halloween isn't a ghoul or goblin.  It resides in my bathroom, was thought to be terminated, only to resurface this spring & torment me all summer/fall.  It's my lovely pink bath tub.  (Insert sarcasm.)

When we moved into the house in September 2008, we knew that one of the first projects we'd tackle was the main level bathroom.  It was a hot pink & gold, who-knows-with-what stained carpet mess.  In a few long months, we went from creepy & grimy to clean & bright.

When we first remodeled the bathroom, we used Rustoleum's Tub & Tile Refreshing Kit in white. My aunt & uncle had used the same product a few years before & their (formerly blue) bathtub still looks great.  Not so much here.  This past spring the finish really started to chip away.  Once it started, it just kept going, faster & faster.  This is what our tub looked like as of last week:

First of all, it LOOKS horrible.  Second, the paint would chip off & lodge in the drain, causing me to lose my mind trying to pick it all out.  Third, & the reason that I decided to bite the bullet & start this project now...the edges were sharp!  The last thing I wanted was for Grady to get a chuck of paint stuck in one of his cheeks while taking a bath - ouch!

Soooo...I started with a sanding block & scraper thinking that if it was coming off so quickly simply from everyday use, it surely would come right off with some sanding & scraping.  Not the case.

I was able to get a little bit off, but it seriously would have taken until the new year to get it all sanded using that method.  We didn't have any problems with the sides of the tub (both inside & out), so we decided that we'd get the whole bottom stripped, as well as smooth out the spots on the ledge where the finish was damaged.  Then we'd use the sand-blaster, or some super coarse sandpaper to rough up the pink & go over the whole thing again with the Rustoleum paint.  It's self leveling, so you "shouldn't" be able to tell where the blemishes were.  (Hopefully).

This is where we're at after the weekend.  The thing that ultimately seemed to work the best (between sanding blocks, heat gun, sandblasting, buying two drill attachments {caused the burn marks}, & an electric sander) was the electric sander.  It was slow going, but we eventually got the bottom of the tub done.  We still have to soften the lines between the old & new finish & sandblast/sand the pink to rough it up before we {re}paint.  Hopefully by next week it'll be good as new.  Until then I'll have to keep converting Grady's bath tub photos to B&W to help hide the pink splotches!

Wish me luck that I'll have enough forearm strength to finish sanding this week!  :)