Category: Small Projects

Small, but noticeable ways to improve your home.

Decorated Bookshelf

Published on by Our Humble Abode11 Comments

A while ago, I shared how I refinished an old, worn bookcase,  I even showed the finished bookshelf, but I realized I haven’t shared pictures of it in the space, completely decorated.  So, here it is.

The top before refinishing was shabby, and not very chic.

The sanding, staining and polyurethane fixed that problem.

It took a lot of time, but it was definitely worth the effort to revamp this passed down bookshelf.  I really love how it looks in the room, too.

P.S.  If you like the Alphabet Tree painting in the photos above, you can get a printed version for yourself.

How To: Refinish a Bookshelf

Published on by Our Humble Abode1 Comment

We have this little bookshelf in the boys’ room.  My mom gave it to us, but it was originally her grandparent’s shelf.  It’s functional and cute, right? 

Well, it’s not so cute when the books have been removed; the finish has seen better days. 

The top was even worse, too!

We have had this bookshelf for three years (or more) and have never done a thing to it.  Until now, that is.  I finally got an itch to refinish this sad little guy. 

It all began with a random orbital sander.  I started by sanding the top with 220 grit paper to completely strip the stain finish.  Then, I worked my way down the sides, sanding with the grain of the wood. 

Once I had the top and outsides sanded, Ben removed the back and I worked on sanding the fixed shelves (both the top and under sides) as well as the inside walls. 

After completing all the smooth flat surface areas, I began the tedious, time-consuming task of hand sanding the detailed areas of fluted half round and the finials.  This involved 100 grit sandpaper, folded in half to get into the crevices of the fluting.  It took a good two hours to get the detailed areas sanded smooth, but I knew the end result would be worth it.

I wanted to keep the dark wood tone, so I bought a quart of Minwax Dark Walnut stain.   

Using a synthetic bristle brush, I began applying the stain in small areas to the shelves.  Working quickly, I wiped the area with an old, cut up T shirt to remove excess stain.  I kept a ‘wet edge’ of stain to prevent any overlapping that might make the color uneven.  I continued this process until the entire bookshelf had a coat of stain. 

I let the stain dry overnight.  Once Everett went down for his morning nap, Vincent and I went back to the garage to give the shelf one more coat of stain.  The second coat gave the rich, luxurious walnut tone I had in mind.

Now that I had the color I wanted, I needed to protect my hard work.  I applied two coats of Varathane Diamond Water Based Polyurathane satin finish to seal the wood and prevent scratches and future damage. 

Just a little note:  This was my first attempt to completely refinish a piece of furniture.  By no means am I an expert, but I think the bookshelf turned out pretty great.  It was time consuming, but not very difficult or expensive.  Speaking of expenses, I here’s a budget breakdown.

Sander and paper: $0.00 (already owned)

1 Quart Minwax Stain: $7.78

Varathane Polyurathane: $0.00 (already owned)

Total Spent:  $7.78

Time:

Sanding: 4 hours

Staining:  2 1/2 hours

Polyurathane Application:  2 hours

Total Time Spent:  8 1/2 hours

Not too shabby, huh?

Painted Pantry

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

As I recently showed, we did a little deep cleaning and organizing around the house.  Of course, I couldn’t stop obsessing over the great pantry update I saw over at House of Smith’s.  In true Amanda style, I really needed wanted our pantry to be pretty.  In true Ben style, he thought I was crazy.  Yep, that’s us; Amanda equals the desire for pretty, even in unseen places.  Ben equals utilitarian.  Well, I went ahead and spruced up our pantry anyway.

First, I removed everything and put it on the guest bed.

And the closet…

After turning our guest room into a make-shift pantry, I prepped the real pantry for paint.  Here’s a sneak peek inside.

Yeah, not that bad, but not great, either.  I don’t think the pantry has seen a paint brush since the house was built.  I started by giving the shelves and supports two coats of Vermont Cream, the same paint we’ve used for all the trim in our house. 

 

Now you can see just how ugly the color really was.  I had forgotten how much of a pain it is to paint shelves.  Yeah, it’s not just one side…  I let everything dry, then taped the white portions off to prepare for my accent color.

Then, I brushed the same paint we used in the dining room and basement on the walls of the pantry.  Two coats and we were in business.  Right after applying the second coat, I removed the tape and paper.  This is the trick to getting nice, crisp lines.

Voila!  A pretty pantry.  Now for the fun part, organizing.  Because I had recently organized everything, I had an idea of where things would go.  I didn’t, however, have pretty jars to store baking staples then.  Remember this post?  Well, I went back to Hobby Lobby and picked up six more of the tall guys.

Can you believe they were only $2.50 each?!  I know! 

Rather than keeping flour and such items in their bags, I filled the bad boys up.  Don’t they look pretty in their new home?  (The answer is yes).

Am I lame that they make me smile?  (The answer is yes).  I filled my canning jars with baking powder (blame Costco) and quick oats, getting rid of the ugly containers and freeing up valuable space.  I had a cute storage box (see on the top?) lying around, so I filled it with our abundance of straws (blame Costco again).

After sorting the canned goods, I grouped liked items, making stacks out of the items we had more of so we can see what we have.  Pasta and mac and cheese are in a little group, as well as the cereal and baby food.  We also have mass quantity of Salted Nut Rolls (blame my brother-in-law), so they are in the treat jar. 

My organization fixation doesn’t stop there, though.  Shelley over at Wonderfully Wordy (and House of Smith’s) hooked me up with this awesome set of custom vinyl labels. 

The labels are affordable and super easy to apply.  And they are the icing on my cake.  So, there you have it.  A few days, $15.00, and 5 labels later, our pantry is finally pretty.

How about you?  Have you ever had the itch to give a seldom seen place a make over?

Mission: Organization

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Project: Pantry

Technically, our pantry never was unorganized.  If you know me, most things are organized.  That’s not to say things can never be more organized.  Ever since I saw a fantastic pantry redesign on House of Smith’s, I’ve been itching to change things up with our pantry.  Over the weekend, I got a metaphorical bug up my butt and started changing things up. 

Here is the before:

Yeah, not super great.  Most of our grocery shopping is done at Costco, so everything is in bulk and a little tricky to store.  I will admit, we are lower on some of our supplies shown in the after photos. 

Ben and I started by throwing out everything that was past its prime or giving it away.  I grouped like items together and made a shelf for each grouping. 

The bottom shelf has cookbooks and potatoes, leaving room for larger items to be stored after a Costco trip.  All canned, boxed and bagged dry food items are on the same shelf along with baby food and formula.  Then we have a baking shelf, including flour, sugar, and chocolate chips.  Cereals and soda joined the baking party.  Finally, the top shelf has alcohols, large serving platters, straws, paper plates and coffee supplies.

Lucky for me, Ben got in one of his deep clean moods after this!  I love when this happens.  Ben becomes a cleaning machine.  He removed all the screens and windows (our window panels can be removed to leave a huge opening) and cleaned every piece.  Then, he took everything out of our refrigerator and scrubbed down every surface.  It’s like we have a brand new fridge. 

As if cleaning windows and refrigerators wasn’t enough fun, Ben also removed everything from both bathroom drawers, vacuumed and scrubbed the insides.  Yes, I am one lucky girl.  Then I went through all the contents.  I threw some things away, donated others, and organized the rest. 

And our drawers are clean, too!

So, that was our fun-filled weekend of cleaning.  Have you deep-cleaned or organized anything recently?

Oh, Baby! Clutter?

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A few weeks ago, I touched on the subject of storing toys, but I’m back to give a few more tips, specifically baby related.  How can someone so small have so much junk stuff?  Clothes, blankets, baby bathtub, car seat, and toys!

Tip number 1:  Stick to the basics and necessities.  Let me start this off by telling you my little secret.  When Vincent was an infant, we received a hand me down swing and bouncer seat from relatives.  I think V used each item once in his first month, so I donated them.  He didn’t seem to mind.  If your baby never uses these items, he or she can’t miss having them.  There are so many baby items being manufactured today that we never had as children, and we’re fine.  I mean seriously, wipe warmers?  By sticking to the essentials, you’ll have minimal baby junk to store.

I think an infant bathtub is an essential, so we keep ours in Everett’s side of the closet.  Of course, he won’t use it forever, but it is so helpful.  It’s relatively convenient to get it when preparing for a bath, seeing as we have to get an outfit, too. 

Hang clothes and not fold.  If you have floorspace, add a dresser to hold toys and smaller items. 

Tip number 2.  If you have the space, go vertically with your storage.  The cubes in the closet were designed to hold shoes, but it turns out they are the perfect solution for storing diapers in storage totes.  If you can’t build cubes, add a hanging shoe organizer, like this one.  Get smaller items up and off the floor to make room for larger, harder to store items. 

Tip number 3.  Utilize under the bed storage.  Don’t let valuable floor space go to waste under a bed.  Buy totes to store clothes, toys or bedding to free up closet space.  Vincent actually has a fleet of Tonka trucks and blocks stored under Everett’s crib.

Tip number 4.  Buy tons of clear storage bins.  Store larger clothes in clear bins with labels so you can see what you have.  This will keep everything at hand, so you can quickly swap items out when the seasons change or baby gets bigger.  We know they grow so quickly.  Once you have a bin of too small clothes, label it and you can put it in the garage or basement to keep it out of the main storage areas. 

Tip number 5.  Don’t be afraid to store some items in more conveniently located closets.  Store the car seat and diaper bag in the entry closet along with your shoes and purse.  You know you’ll need the car seat when you’ll also need your purse, so keep it close. 

The car seat is in clear view, but you can see the very bottom of the diaper bag on the upper shelf. 

Some baby toys are awkward to store, so we keep those in our guest bedroom closet, which is just off the main living room.  It keeps it out-of-the-way, but close by.

If you have a linen closet, keep baby blankets, sheets, burp cloths, towels, etc. along with everyday items.  Storing some items in more logical closets will free up some nursery closet space, leaving room for toys! 

Tip number 6.  Choose items that can easily fold or be disassembled.  Both of our boys love(d) the Graco jumper.  I allow it because it doesn’t take up much space when it is out.

When it isn’t in use, we easily slide it over to the side.

If we have company, we pull the jumper off and slide it under the guest bed. 

So, there you have it.  These storage methods have worked for us, but I want to know what you do.  I do plan to cover some kitchen ideas, too, so keep reading.