Category: Small Projects

Small, but noticeable ways to improve your home.

The Change Up

Published on by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

Despite finishing the basement nearly a year and a half ago, most of the rooms are filled with left over and unwanted furniture from the main level.  We don’t have a definite plan for decorating and we’re on a tight budget because we’re saving up money for our kitchen remodel.  Don’t get excited, we’ve made very little progress on that front, but we do have a mini change we’ll share later this week.

With guests coming tonight, I thought it was time to fix up the basement bedrooms.  The smaller of the two wasn’t so bad.

You know, if you think an industrial sewing machine isn’t so bad.  Or lack of closet doors.  The other bedroom wasn’t as great.

It’s a warehouse for chairs, exercise equipment, and flooring.

Fortunately for our guests, we’ve made some changes, but I have teased you long enough.  It all started when I got a bug up my butt to sell the massively dark queen bed from the larger bedroom.  Craig and his infamous list to the rescue.  I listed the bed for $500 or best offer, including a mattress.  A few days and phone calls later, a couple stopped by to look at the bed.  They said they’d take it, so Ben hauled the bed to their house the next day.  Finally, I could put my plan into action.

You see, I have always disliked the king mattress being in the smaller room while the queen bed was in the larger room.  Why didn’t we just put the queen bed in the smaller room?  Because the bed with headboard was too long to fit in the small room while leaving room to walk around the bed with the sewing machine.  Yes, I did just say sewing machine.

So, on Wednesday while Everett was napping, Vincent and I set to work to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.  First, I hauled the king mattress into the large bedroom and the queen box spring and mattress in the small bedroom.

We still have to get a bed frame and make a head board, but the size of the bed is much better for this room.  It allows for a larger side table.  I bought this table for only 25 bucks from Home Goods on our recent Minnesota trip.

It’s super lightweight, but the design is versatile.  The faux crocodile top adds interest, too.

With the king bed in the large bedroom, the mattress sat right next to the La Z Boy, so I had to think of an alternative layout.  Knowing we can’t get rid of furniture just yet, I worked with what I had.

I moved the chair over to allow for the bed to be centered on the back wall with a nightstand on either side.  Makeshift art that I hung above the bed and two small ottomans at the foot, just to give them a place.  We still have a pile of hardwood flooring stacked along the wall, but it’s the only place we can store it, so it stays.

The rocking chair now sits closer to the door, taking the place of the dresser.  To make the chair placement seem more intentional, I created a little reading nook, complete with a small side table and floor lamp.

Now, you see this from the doorway.

To the right of the entrance, we have a bookshelf Ben built, which originally lived in Vincent’s bedroom.  You know, before Everett was born and we needed to make space for the crib.  Really, we don’t need this bookshelf any longer, so it may find a new home via Craigslist.  Until then, I wanted to make it seem useful.

Ben’s weights had to stay, but by adding a blanket and towels, it can serve as guest storage.  A few random books, candles, vases, a mirror, and art add a little more visual interest, but still a far cry from finished or pretty.

While we’re on the subject of guest storage, where did the dresser go?

In the smaller bedroom, across from the bed.  Still, not perfect, but our guests now have a place to unpack and set junk.  Hopefully, some day, we’ll find a better place to house the manly sewing machine.  Overall, I think the rooms look better, and, we gained $400 by selling the too huge bed frame.  So, that’s how we updated the basement bedrooms without spending a cent.  Of course, we plan to add art, furniture we actually like, and accessories to make the rooms feel more complete.

What do you think of the changes?  Any free suggestions for improvements?  What changes have you made without spending any money?

Simple Solution: Shelf Life

Published on by Our Humble Abode5 Comments

When we last left off with the theater room entertainment saga, we had just installed the sliding doors, going from this:

To this:

But, we still didn’t have shelves to store the toys.  You see, we didn’t know exactly how much space the sliding cabinets took up before installation, so shelves had to wait.

 

Then, Ben cut two pieces of plywood to length and depth, minus 3/4 inches.   Why subtract 3/4 of an inch?  To leave room for two strips of 3/4 inch thick by 1 1/2 inch tall MDF to finish off the front shelf face.  Ben simply nailed the thin strips to the front, puttied the nail holes and seam and left the shelves to dry.  Then, I sanded the putty down for a smooth surface and used a spray primer (because I’m lazy and we had it on hand) to cover the board evenly.  In an un-Amanda fit of craze attempt to branch out and add a fun splash of color, I applied two coats of Rustoleums Lagoon blue spray paint to each shelf.

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However , I neglected the undersides, end and back edges.  Because A, I ran out of paint.  B, the undersides are not visible unless you’re two feet tall.  And C, I’m lazy.

We’ve just doubled our usable storage by getting toys and blankets off the bottom shelf.  As a bonus, the dark paint won’t show scratches and scuffs as easily as white.

What do you think of the added color splash?  How do you add color to your home?  Pillows?  Art?  Paint?  Have a storage problem you could solve or have solved with additional shelves?

Simple Solution: Painting and Hardware

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

When summer rolls in, we seem to get our rollers out to paint.  Last summer, it was the fence.  Now, it’s our front door.  You see, the trim and step looked like this:

Not pretty.  Or finished.  So, I busted out the gallon of satin white exterior paint leftover from painting the mailbox post.  Three coats later, our trim looked satin shiny and new.  But the antique brass lever handle just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

And Vincent always took the deadbolt cover off, so most often it looked like this from the inside.

Ben bought the front door hardware when he bought the house.  When we bought matching hardware for the backdoor, we couldn’t find the same style deadbolt.  All we found was a lever handle with a deadbolt which locked from both sides.  Locked from both sides!  Why?  That meant we had to hang a key from the  backdoor just to open it!

Umm, yeah.  If our kid kleptos the deadbolt cover, you can bet your bottom dollar that he stole the key all. the. time.  And, the front and back door keys were different.  So we didn’t replace strictly for cosmetic reasons.  We chose a  brushed stainless knob and deadbolt set for both doors.  And, they are keyed to match.  Score.

We love the new hardware and convenience from the switch.  Oh, I should mention we chose a knob because V liked to hang from the lever.  Yep, hang from it.  I know, I should have better control of my kid.

We’re I’m still too lazy to touch up the paint around the door we installed two years ago.  I do have a lame defense though.  One, the paint in the living room is old, so it separates while painting, so it isn’t the same color.  Two, when we remodel the kitchen, we’ll have to repaint the living room, so we’ ll choose a completely new color.  Three, I hate touch up painting.  Well, painting in general.

The backdoor is decked out with a new lock, too.

And tons of fingerprints.

Seriously, were these kids raised in a barn?  Must be to have that much grime on their hands.  They’re lucky they’re cute.  Ha.

Now I need to convince Ben to replace our original garage doors.

You’d think it wouldn’t be difficult given the condition.

F0r some reason, he’s resisting.  Apparently the garage is last on the priority list.

Please tell me your kids get fingerprints all over your house.  Or hang on doorknobs.  Do you prefer a lever or knob style?  Do you have two different keys for your doors?  Find it as annoying as we did?

Lots of Work and Some Play

Published on by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

Sometimes, we work on our house, but that little project isn’t worthy of a post.  Today, we’re sharing the boring projects/maintenance we’ve recently completed.

Ben brought a pressure washer (Vincent calls it a water compressioner) home to wash the mold off the north side of the house.  I complained about it here, and Sam M suggested a hot pressure washer.

He hooked it up to hot water and it worked quickly and came off easily.

Then Ben used a leaf blower in reverse to suck the leaves out of our window wells.  Nothing life changing, but it looks much better.

Before the attic become sweltering, we decided to install an exhaust fan in the master bathroom.  Previously, this was a half bath, so it never had a fan.

It made a mess in our tub, (Mickey didn’t approve) but it was long overdue.

Side note: When Ben was younger, he asked his mom what the bath fan did.  She replied, “It takes the bad air and puts it outside.”  He asked, “Under the rocks?”  She said yes (they had an earth berm home).  She asked how Ben knew this.  His response?  “Because I’ve smelled under them before.”

Our window boxes looked terrible; everything died over the winter.

See, dead.

Another side note: When Ben was about 4, he went outside and saw icicles had fallen off the house.  He called to his brothers, “Guys, look at the icicles, DEAD”  Can you tell they grew up hunting?  Of course if they we on their side they were dead.  I about died laughing when I read that in Ben’s baby book.

To remedy this, we took a trip to Home Depot to pick up flowers.  I chose Coleus, Creeping Jenny, Impatiens, and Pansies.

Better, but I hope the tiny flowers actually grow.  If not, I wasted $15 per window.

I also had a few rose bushes die over the abnormally harsh winter, so I chose three plants for roughly $10 each from Lowe’s.  See how much bigger the new plants are compared to the original one on the right?

One of Ben’s apple trees died, too, so we bought four fruit trees to plant.  Two apples and two cherry trees. Vincent helped Ben while Everett hung out on the blanket.  I worked on refinishing the bench.

I also stole clipped a few lilacs from the neighbor’s bush to display in the dining room.

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting a baby girl, due to arrive any day now.  I’m so excited to make girl items, and a butterfly mobile seemed perfect.  I bought a macrame hoop from Hobby Lobby for three bucks and chose assorted pink and purple card stock.  Using fine gauge wire, I separated the hoop into 8 sections.  Then, I drew a butterfly and traced half of it on my paper.  I folded the paper in half and cut out tons of butterflies.

I poked a small hole near the top of each with a needle and strung white thread through to hang the butterflies from.

Here is a shot from a BPOV (baby point of view).  A small cup hook easily holds the mobile above the crib.

Do you remember the scene from The Shining when Wendy discovers Jack’s ‘book’?  The pages covered with ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’

Well, sometimes, that’s what we feel like.  A trip on the boat, on a Thursday no less, can help that.  I love Montana lakes surrounded by mountains.  That never happens in Minnesota.

We had fun until the wind picked up and we had 8 foot waves to compete with.

Is your to do list overflowing with little projects and/or maintenance?  It can be overwhelming, can’t it?  What do you do to get a relaxing day away from your list?

Outdoor Bench Refinishing

Published on by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

You know that free couch turned outdoor bench I shared several weeks ago?  And the desperate please-give-me-some-love shape it was in?

I finished refinishing it.  Before we get into the details, here are a few more before photos of the worn finish.  This was at the front edge, where the cushions rest.

And on the back support.

The back was in the best condition.

Here’s the play by play on how the sanding, staining, and upholstering happened.

Of course sanding had to happen before I could do anything else.  It’s gotta get worse before it can get better, right?  I used an orbital sander with 220 grit paper to sand all of the flat surfaces.  If you’ve never sanded something and have concerns, use a high grit paper (this will prevent removing anything too quickly) on a hidden area until you get a feel for it.  I started with the arms and the top rail.

For rounded areas, I used a combination of the orbital sander and good old fashioned sand paper.  Again, this is much easier with a high grit paper.

After an hour of sanding, I had the back and the top pieces sanded.

Then came the front and the detail work.  Sanding between the slats was a pain the my butt.  But, that afternoon, I had the entire bench sanded and ready to stain.

Well, I skipped the under side and the back bottom slat because the cushions cover that up.

See, you wouldn’t know if I didn’t show you.  I’m really that lazy.  So, that was day one of my bench project.  It’s looking Scandinavian a little pale for the summer.  Day two consisted of staining to give it a Brazilian tan.

As planned, I used stain (Minwax Dark Walnut) left over from the bookshelf I refinished last summer.  We keep old shirts to use as rags.  Along with rubber gloves, I applied a coat of stain with one rag and wiped it off with another seconds after applying.

Better, but not as dark as I had in mind.

I let the stain set overnight and applied a second coat the following morning.

 

Day four, I bought a quart of Minwax Clear Shield Exterior Oil Based protective satin finish.  The oil based clear coat protects the wood from heat and moisture.  To apply, I used a Purdy paint brush.  I don’t work for Purdy and I’m not getting paid to say this.  Purdy brushes really are great.  One even coat and another day of dry time.  Then, another coat and 24 hours of dry time, which completed the wood refinishing stage.

I decided to upholster the cushions for several reasons.  One, the cushion base was simply stretched canvas, which sagged.  Two, I wanted one cushion, not three.  Three, I didn’t want/don’t know how to sew three fitted slipcovers with zippers.  Four, I’m cheap and wanted to buy half the fabric.  I’m not an upholsterer, but I’m definitely not a seamstress.  Disclaimer: I’m sure I did many things that a real upholsterer would cringe at, but it worked for me.

I had Ben cut a piece of old plywood to size to use as my base.  A new piece of 4 inch thick foam would have cost about $80, so I decided to reuse the old cushions.  I bought a full-sized foam mattress topper to cover the cushions for a seamless look.  I also bought two yards of clear vinyl table cloth for a water barrier.  Then, I gathered a staple gun, staples, scissors, and my fabric.

With my supplies ready, I prepped the cushions for upholstering.  First, I stapled the cushion pads to the plywood to prevent shifting.

For a seamless look, I covered the seams with a strip of foam.

Followed by another layer of foam.  I placed the foam smooth side down, with the cushion covered plywood on top.

Starting on the long sides, I stapled the foam at the center.  Then, pulled the other side tight and stapled again.  I stapled the entire length and then started on the corners.  For a straight, smooth corner, I pulled the foam tight.

Then stapled straight out from the corner.

Pull the outer folds and staple down tightly.

Staple inside for a tight grouping.

Cut the excess foam and repeat for all corners and materials.

Honestly, the foam was much easier than the vinyl.  The vinyl is less pliable and creased more.  The fabric was easy in comparison though.  And, here’s a tip:  If you’re not using an upholstery grade material, buy extra fabric to fold over several times to keep the stapled areas from tugging free and fraying.

That was my process, we’ll share the finished bench tomorrow.  For now, I’m wondering if you’ve refinished or upholstered furniture?  Have you sewn tailored cushion covers?  Got any refinishing/upholstering tips you’ve learned along the way?