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Good Morning

Published on July 17, 2013July 16, 2013 by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

When working on the boys bedroom I got the idea to make speech bubble pillow cases. Just a quirky, cute little thing. And because Vincent likes to use two pillows at night, but the throw pillows aren’t soft enough.

I bought navy cases from Wal-Mart, then made a Photoshop template and grabbed our freezer paper.

Using a pencil, I traced my design on the matte side of the paper.

And cut out the letters.

For my design, I wanted to keep the letters and bubble surround navy and fill in with white.

I used a hot iron to adhere the templates to the corner of each pillow.

And filled in with white fabric paint.

A little paint got under the paper, but it wasn’t enough to bother me.

After letting the painted cases dry flat for three days, I turned them inside out to wash and dry. Good to use, and cute to boot. If you want to make your own, here’s the design I used.

A little personal touch really can take something plain and turn it into something completely custom. And it’s so cute to see their heads on the pillows, saying good morning or night.

Build-A-Bed

Published on July 15, 2013July 15, 2013 by Our Humble Abode13 Comments

How ’bout we talk beds. Specifically the beds Ben and I built for our boys. You already saw them in action and we’re so happy with them. At the beginning of the room make over, I threw out the idea of getting Ikea beds. Sadly, Montana doesn’t have an Ikea. So we had three options. One, wait until our next trip to Minnesota. Two, buy the beds and pay shipping to get them here. Three, build something. After crunching the numbers we realized building would be almost the same price as the Ikea bed and slat system.

To make two extra long twin beds we needed:

Three 4 by 4 by eight foot pine posts (we ordered four because we worried about the look. Good thing we did because one corner was completely gone on one)

Six 2 by 8 by eight foot pine boards

Two 4 by 8 foot OSB sheets

Six 2 by 4 boards

6 inch long screws

We cut four posts at 20 inches long for the footboard and four more at 40 inches to make the headboard. Then cut four 2 by 8’s to 39 inches to connect the posts together.

Two more 2 by 8 rails at 81 inches make up the sides.

Ben drilled staggered pilot holes in the posts. The screws go completely through the post and in a few inches of each 2 by 8.

Each rail connects to the inside of each corner post.

To support the matterss Ben cut 2 by 4 boards in half length wise and nailed them into the rails.

Four more 39 inch 2 by 4 pieces go across, resting on the rail supports.

Which holds the OSB in place before putting the matterss on.

Oh, I should mention I sanded all the pieces with 120 grit paper before giving it two coats of Minwax Polycrylic. Between coats I sanded with 400 grit paper, just to smooth the raised grain.

Now for the headboards. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of this because we both had to stretch the upholstery fabric. Ben cut a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood to 19 by 39 inches, then nailed more cut 2 by 4 strips to all outside edges. Two by 2 pine would also work. Then we wrapped a foam matterss pad (cheaper than foam by the yard!) over the front, top and bottom, leaving the sides clear. Then we stretched the fabric over, stapling to the back under sides of the frame.

Three inch screws from the back into the posts hold the headboards in place.

All the lumber cost $120, another $12 for the fabric, and we already had the screws, foam, and clear coat. So, basically the same price as the Ikea beds, without hauling or shipping, but these beds are twice as beefy. They’re extra long twin instead of a normal twin, too. And took only two days to make. Can’t say that about some Ikea items. Ha!

Boy Bedroom Makeover

Published on July 12, 2013July 12, 2013 by Our Humble Abode36 Comments

So, I’m trying something different with this one. Rather than a play by play of makeover progress, I’m switching it up and starting with the before and after pictures. This is what the boys’ bedroom looked like before I started:

Sure, we had done some work in there, adding striped curtains, install a new window (the other still has to change), and paint swatches on the walls. But it was still such a blank slate.

Then I stumbled on the perfect dresser and gave it a makeover and swapped out the flush mount light fixture.

But that’s where progress stopped. This room makeover really kicked off by scraping the popcorn texture off and smoothing the ceiling. While the furniture was out of the room we decided to change the trim (to match the other rooms) and paint. I stayed close to the mood board, too.

Check out their (nearly) finished room today:

V requested yellow walls and Ev wanted green. This bold yellowy-green (Anjou Pear by Ben Moore color matched to Glidden) is a great compromise and is still really youthful and fun. Some original items are in there: the dresser, curtains, and some art, but most everything is new. A ReStore light fixture for $6.40 (the barn light focused too much light downward).

Matching custom built pine and upholstered beds replaced the vintage bed and Ev’s crib.

Gray, ivory, and navy bedding helps balance the bright walls.

A new art arrangement fills out the off centered window space.

The boys chose their favorite and I made new movie posters, too.

Fun pillows for a little pattern and color.

Across the room are the constellation canvases with added frames and bookshelf below.

But I’ve got two things I still want to do. Find or make a large piece of art for this wall:

And get a 4 by 6 or 5 by 7 rug to go between the beds.

What do you think of the changes? Any suggestions for art? What are you up to this weekend?

Court Rules

Published on July 10, 2013July 10, 2013 by Our Humble Abode9 Comments

This landscaping bit is no joke. We’ve been working our way around the yard since early April. Leveling low spots, transplanting plants, and spreading rock to keep our yard as low maintenance and weed free as possible. Here’s part of our front yard before:

Lots of dirt, weeds, a few dead or dying plants and that’s about it. After weeks of work, here’s where we are today:

When discussing and planning the front yard, we knew we didn’t want to water, mow, and keep up a small patch of grass here. What to do instead? Houzz.com gave us the perfect (for us) solution. A bocce ball court.

Once spring rolls around, we’ll stock up on plants to green up the rock. But, that hasn’t stopped us from playing a few games already.

To edge the court, Ben used steel (it came with the wood deck beams) for a clean edge.

We also pulled the giant concrete fountain out of the pool house and put it in the front yard.

It’s centered on the pool house door, but off-center of the bocce court.

And this little area is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Home Depot had 1 gallon hydrangeas for 9 bucks each, so I grabbed two. At first, I didn’t know where I’d put them. Then realized the part shade end of the deck would be perfect.

Now I’ve got to get a hammock to hang between those trees. They’re practically begging for it, right?! And I just might have to get a few (or several) more hydrangea plants. One can never have too many beautiful flowers.

Deck Dynasty

Published on July 8, 2013July 8, 2013 by Our Humble Abode14 Comments

Hey everyone! Welcome to Monday. Did you have a nice holiday weekend? Let me just say, four-day weekends are awesome. We got some work done and still had time to relax. Much of our weekend work took place outside. Landscaping. Adding more rock in preparation for next spring’s plants. Before finishing up the back landscape work, we had to cut the uneven ends off the back deck. Because this is a safety issue.

Ben borrowed a neat beam cutting blade from a contractor friend to get through the thick wood. We snapped a chalk line and set up our cut guide. Straight two by fours raised the blade from the ground and Ben cruised along, cutting the excess off while I used the shop vac to blow away the dust.

Now we’ve got clean ends.

And a safe, straight-edged deck.

Hopefully weather will coöperate (not too hot and no rain) with us to finish it completely. A finish sanding, pressure wash, dry time, and protective coat are all necessary before we can start using this space.

Because the back yard is a dirty dust bowl, we need to cover the dirt before our finish coat on the deck. Dirt settling in our new deck coat is not the goal here. So, yesterday, we added limestone chips.

Before spreading the chips, Ben dug a small trench for a future gas line for the fire pit to be. Hence the bucket covering the tubes. We’re so excited for this space. A little more rock to spread, fire pit to install, deck to seal, and plants and we’ll be done.

I’m thinking flowers along the large rocks. Maybe salvia? It grows really well here and the purple would look so nice against the rock.

Here’s the slight cantilever detail, too. The deck is about eight inches above the rock, which is a perfect step height.

There’s one disappointing deviation from plans. This is the only pergola you’ll see back here.

After a lot of measuring, we’ve nixed the idea. Wop, wop. Everything will block the view of our back yard, one of our favorite features of this house. But all is not lost. We’re discussing a front deck pergola to give much-needed shade.

What did you do this weekend? In addition to landscape work, we had a relaxing Friday lunch, watched fireworks from our back yard, and had a barbeque.