Year: 2010

Office Progress

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I’m back to show off more of my almost finished office! 

I was using the children’s desk we have in our living room to run my stationery shop, Customized Stationary.  A little more than a year and a lot of complaining later, I am using my new office!  Ben still has some building to do, but I’m happy as a clam to have more space. 

Before we go into the present day office, lets take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

This is what the office space looked like before.  Then Ben worked his magic.  Summer rolled around and we got busy with outdoor projects and life, so my office was on hold.  Winter came and we started working again, but now we had a deadline.  We were going to have a baby around the end of March 2010.  Time to go into over drive.  We had an entire basement to finish, including my office.  So, 15 gallons of white paint later, we have arrived at our destination.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, MY OFFICE

Once the office is complete, I will have a stack of four drawers on the left side of the desk and four cabinet doors to cover the right side.  I will also have adjustable shelving in the cabinet that houses my computer tower and printer. 

Here is a look at the other side:

 Ben is building the cabinet doors to cover the right sides.

Here we have a door waiting to be filled, sanded, primed and painted. 

Ben is pretty smart and had a few ideas to improve the function of the space.  One idea was under cabinet lighting.  The other brilliant idea was a magnetic backsplash to serve as my inspiration/work board.  (I was planning on using a framed metal board, but this is so much better AND it allows artwork on the left wall).  The original plan was to install painted steel, but we didn’t know how we would keep it in place without ruining the walls and making it obvious. 

Then, my dad suggested using magnetic primer.  Brilliant!  A quart costs between $20.00 and $25.00, but we covered my entire backsplash 6 times (the can suggests a minimum of three thin coats) with one can.  Once the primer has dried, you just paint over it with your wall color and voilà!  Instant magnet board.  The magnetic primer can’t hold heavy items, but it’s perfect for my papers. 

The left side holds three IKEA containers with paperclips, rubber bands and small clips. 

 

The longer right side is my working order side and it extends around the corner to the bookshelf.  Notice the under cabinet lighting, too. 

Ben is definitely a keeper!  I’m so lucky to have such a talented man in my life.

It’s Marble-ous!

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Yep, I’m talking about our new marble floor. 

Ben installed the new white marble floors in a brick pattern to add interest.  I think it looks amazing, but I’m biased.  You’ll notice a small corner of our new bathtub to the right.  Here she is in all her glory, sort of.  It’s a five-foot jetted tub and I couldn’t wait to use it!

After the tub was installed, Ben added beadboard panels to cover up the nasty wallpaper.  Then he built our custom vanity.  We decided on two drawer stacks, forgoing the cabinet.   Ben’s design also hid the sink plumbing, sweet! 

The counter top is a green granite remnant from a local marble and granite company.  The vessle sink and faucet were purchased on Ebay for $150.00 TOTAL!  The sink is a little difficult to keep clean because it’s clear and two sided, but it’s worth it. 

Keeping with the marble-ous theme, we installed a marble tile tub surround, too.  Ben wanted some dark tile, so this is the pattern we agreed upon.  (The tiles still need to be cleaned here).

The sill around the tub is a matching granite to give the tub edge some stability.

After three weeks of hard work and long hours, our bathroom looked like this:

We added a marble tile backsplash and reused our old mirror.  We turned it vertically to add height and reflect light from the new sky tube we installed over the tub.  Ben still had to build the drawer fronts, but we can see the finish line, now. 

In true Bowe fashion, we work really hard to finish a project and then take a few months off before completing the finishing touches.  So, after about three months, we finally had the drawer fronts done and installed. 

Here’s the finished bathroom now:

So, that’s how we transformed our ugly bathroom into a spa like retreat.  All for under $2000.00 with a lot of hard work.

Bathroom Pinks and Blues

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Our main bathroom was an eye sore to say the least.  It was almost completely mauve.  2 inch square tiles covered the floor and countertop.  Pink metallic wallpaper covered all the walls.  Almond (read nicotine-stained) 4 inch square tiles were in the shower and went up to the ceiling cabinet?!  Yes, we had a totally unusable cabinet above our shower.  Here’s our starting point. 

After using the bathroom as it was for one year, we decided it was time to start over.  The process began by pulling out the awkward cabinet.  Someone seems pretty happy about it.

The next item to go was the tub, tile and sheet rock behind.

Pretty, huh?

Then Ben unhooked the sink and pulled out the vanity. 

After the vanity, Ben pulled up all the pink floor tile.  Then we spent HOURS removing the wallpaper.  We didn’t get very far and scraped up the walls along the way.  Time for plan B.

Living Room Phases

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It seems our living room has made some dramatic changes every year since Ben and I got married in 2006. 

When I met Ben in 2005, our living room looked like this.  Fortunately, we have made some improvements.  I moved in (with a love seat and some accessories) and the living room looked like this in 2006.

Ouch.  Not much better.  We still had the 80’s hand-me-down entertainment center, cow rug, mismatched furniture and a lot of clutter.  Oh, and we didn’t have trim around the windows.  Ben was recovering from knee surgery, so we also had a total gym upstairs. 

2006 became 2007 and we found a black leather couch and love seat set in the paper for $800.00.  It wasn’t the best looking, but at least it matched and fit our budget.  We repainted the trim white and the upper color became a darker beige.  We donated the entertainment center and built cabinets.  Ben also cased out the windows, so we had a more finished looking room.  But, we were still waiting to build the bookshelves until we got a new flat panel TV.

2008 was a much better year for our living room.   That was the year we got model furniture from the builder I worked for.  Now we’re getting somewhere.  The couch and chair matched, but we still had the rocker.  I bought a new rug from Flor.  It added some style and warmth.  I made some throw pillows to add more color.  At the time, the scheme was blue and red. 

We got our new TV and finished the bookshelves.  What a big difference that made!  A few accessories later and we had this:

Ben’s boss gave us a little desk.  Nothing great, but it works.  We finally got some framed pictures on the walls, too.  Notice I said some. 

Fast forward to 2009 when we bought two side chairs and side tables from Target.  We moved some furniture around and changed up the color scheme to blue and green.  I sewed a few pillow covers and made some artwork to add more color.   

Green and white books, silver picture frames, candles and new artwork and photos revamped the entertainment center.  I also switched out the door hardware for a more modern feel.

That’s where our living room is now.  What is going to happen in 2010?

Young House Love Inspiration

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One of my favorite blogs to read is Young House Love.  They have great, usable DIY  ideas.  I decided to borrow some of their ideas to make custom art for my home office.  Like this map.

Here’s my DIY version, complete with places Ben and I have traveled.  I LOVE this idea.  It’s always changing, too.  I just need a map with Alaska to update the trip we took last year.

I bought a cheapo frame (I still need to paint it) and removed the glass.  I had a roll of cork from Michael’s, so I cut a piece to size.  Then I put the map in the mat and put the cork behind and put the back on again.  I had some simple sewing pins, too, and I liked the way the colors looked with the map.  Voila!

Here’s a close up of our map:

Going along with the travel theme, I also created similar vacation jars. 

I have a vacation shelf in my office complete with vacation jars and books.  I try to buy a book from all of our vacation spots, just to show some photos to people and remember where we were.  Some of the items I have from our vacations are too big for the jars (like a map from Savannah and a booklet from our Alaskan boat tour)  so those are to the side. 

I simply put all the items in a smooth-sided jar and made a label on my label maker. 

I like to get sand from everyplace we visit.  I feel like I have a little piece of oceanfront property.  I used different, smaller jars for the sand, but used the same labels.

YHL collects postcards from vacations.  I have a slightly more juvenile collection.  Squished pennies.  Rather than sitting in my drawer, I put them in a pretty flower shaped bowl for display on my bookshelf.

I try to buy a souvenir spoon from each place, too.  Excuse the spoon rack, I need to make a more modern, less cluttered one.  I see these every time I go into our kitchen and it’s a nice little reminder of where we’ve been!