DIY – Page 25

Window Shopping: Cute or Kitschy?

Published on August 2, 2010May 25, 2011 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

Do you ever see an item that is so ugly it’s cute? Or wonder if something is cute and endeering or kitschy and ugly? I know I do. I think a few personal kitschy/cute items are fine, so long as it is only a few. I’ve gathered some of the items I can’t quite decide which way I lean toward more.

These little guys could be cute in the right setting, especially becuase they are made to look like your family.

I would like to buy a plain set to make my own, but you get the idea…

This print is simply adorable, not even a hint of kitsch.

It’s similar to my Love Tree print, too.

Maybe that’s why I like it?

If only I had a place to put something like this.

Which reminds me, I still need to figure out how to make a terrarium (or two or three) for my house. Of course, with my love of all things miniature, I would need something like these and these.

I have been loving faux bois lately, so these coasters would be a great fix.

Although, so wood (ha!) these. In the right setting, of course. Maybe the boys’ room? Hmmm… Of course, I would have to make my own. You know I’m too cheap to spend $45.00 on pillows!

I actually made a pillow for my boys becuase I was inspired by this little monkey.

So, that’s that. What are your opinions? Cute or kitsch?

Dining Table Update

Published on July 27, 2010September 9, 2010 by Our Humble AbodeLeave a comment

You may recall that we’ve recently built a new dining table.

After using it for a few weeks, I’m happy to report that it is still as fantastic as I hoped it would be. Most visitors don’t believe it was a DIY project, either. Score!

We were a little hesitant to get a marble top because marble can stain easily, but we haven’t had any problems so far. We actually poured a little grape juice on the sample and let it sit for a good 20 minutes. Then we wiped it off and we couldn’t see a stain or any sort of discoloration. A few coats of a nice quality wax will help prevent stains, too.

Our son also loves his new fort. He couldn’t play under our old table due to the pedestal design. Another benefit when dealing with small children: the steel was spray painted, so it will be super cheap and easy to touch up down the road. Simply remove the top, haul the base outside and give the table a coat or two of plain ol’ spray paint. Heck, we could change the color if we wanted to.

The World Market chairs we picked up are comfortable, too. The size is perfect for our table. I love the color and the slightly rustic finish is a great way to disguise future wear. The stacking Target chairs are so convenient to carry up and down the stairs and are easy to store.

When we planned to build a table, we knew we would not have the option to expand the table to add leaves, but most often, our old table was at the smallest size. Over the weekend, we had several guests and missed the larger table. Only for a minute, though. This table looks so much better than our old table and all the options we could find locally. We plan to buy a card table or two for future large gatherings.

Overall, we love the table, chairs and usability of the set. With that said, I’m curious to know what piece of furniture made your lives easier?

Basement Progress: Man Cave

Published on July 20, 2010May 25, 2011 by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

When we posted about our basement living room aka the Man Cave, we were just getting the trim on the walls. Well, we’re back to show the recent changes we’ve made to Ben’s favorite room in the house.

After filling and sanding 1 million and 1 holes, taping and masking off areas, we were ready to start priming the walls, ceiling and trim. We opted to use a paint sprayer to apply the primer because we had so much area and detail to cover. After about four hours, we had the entire basement primed, looking like this:

This shot shows the small hallway and stairs.

We waited 24 hours for the primer to dry and began spraying the ceiling with Glidden’s Bird Song. Pass another 24 hour, then we taped the ceiling off to use the sprayer and painted our trim Behr’s Vermont Cream. We removed the tape and HATED the ceiling color. We decided to paint the ceiling Vermont Cream, too. After three coats of white paint on the ceiling, crown mouldings, and trim, we were ready to add some color to the walls.

I had planned to paint the basement living room Restoration Hardware’s Silver Sage, which is one shade lighter than our guest bedroom color. We had the swatch color matched at Wal-Mart to order 5 gallons. We started painting shortly upon returning home, but we had major clumps on in our paint. It turns out, the bucket had been on the shelf past it’s prime, leaving a semi-dry paint clump in the bottom of our bucket. We returned the paint and got individual gallons. The paint assistant converted the 5 gallon formula to 1 gallon formula wrong, so the new paint color is in between Silver Sage and Sea Green.

We were on a huge time crunch, with one week to finish before my due date, so we unpacked our rug and sectional. This is what our Man Cave looks like today:

The sectional is so comfortable and it can seat a ton of guests. We still need artwork, cabinet doors and storage, but it’s usable now.

Our 42 inch Insignia TV, which hails from Best Buy was a great buy-on sale because it is last year’s model. Ben did some internet searching to find the star of the room, his Onkyo 9100 sound system. He got a great deal because there is a small chip on the back of the subwoofer. It still works perfectly, shaking the couch during loud action scenes of movies. Of course, Ben loves it and shows it off to almost every visitor we have.

We have some finishing to do, like build, prime and paint our sliding entertainment center doors to hide the ugly toys, add shelving and make some pretty storage for DVDs, but all in good time.

I’m curious to know if we’re the only ones to tackle a project with a short deadline. Tell me your project and what your deadline was. The arrival of a guest? Selling your home? Or were you having a baby, like we were?

Take it for Granite

Published on July 8, 2010September 9, 2010 by Our Humble Abode5 Comments

We recently revealed our new DIY dining table, complete with a dark green-black marble top. This isn’t the first (or last) piece of marble or granite in our house. In fact, we have quite a bit in 1 1/4 inch thick slabs and tiles. I thought I’d give a pictoral view showcasnig the granite and marble we have in our home.

All three of our bathrooms have granite-topped vanities.

The main bathroom granite is Giallo San Francisco:

Our master bathroom color is Galaxy Black:

The basement bathroom counters are Verde Maritoka:

Part of my office desktop has Carrera marble, while the other areas have Brazilian Cherry.

Each bathtub has a matching granite sill to rest on. Both the main and master bathrooms have marble tub surrounds, too.

The master bathroom floor is covered in white marble and absolute black granite checkerboard. The main bathroom has white marble floors in a brick lay pattern.

We decided to install granite and marble as some of our window sills to protect them from moisture.

The kitchen and dining room sills are Silver Spark:

Our master bathroom has Carrera Marble:

The half wall by our stairway has a brown granite topper:

Our love of marble extends to a few pieces of furniture other than our dining table. Two small side tables in our guest bedroom have marble tile tops.

This little table had a clear glass top, but it was easily replaced by one 12 inch square tile, left over from our bathroom remodel.

Why limit marble to counter tops when you can have a marble table lamp like this:

Just to recap, we have 4 countertops, 3 tables, 6 window and tub sills, 2 shower surrounds, 1 lamp and we haven’t remodeled our kitchen.

Why do we have so much marble and granite you ask? We love the timeless look, durability and we can get remnant slabs for a great price. And, it’s almost easier to work with than wood.

This Thing Sucks: Vacuums

Published on July 2, 2010September 12, 2012 by Our Humble AbodeLeave a comment

A few years ago, we installed a central vacuüm system. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. It is so choice. We upgraded from a canister vacuüm, you know, the kind you drag around behind you, smashing into all of your walls on the way? Yea, we hated it. And it didn’t clean very well because it was old. Ben researched central vac systems and decided he could install one in our house. I was definitely on board. Anything to make cleaning easier and more enjoyable, right?

Back then, our basement was unfinished, so installing the PVC piping was relatively easy. Ben ran the ‘plumbing’ and wiring from our predetermined outlets to the vacuüm itself, which is located in our attached garage, cutting down on the noise significantly.

Our central vacuüm system consists of four outlets, one vacuüm, one 30 foot hose, and attachment heads. We opted not to install dustpan receptacles in our kitchen because we just get the vacuüm hose out and clean the whole house at once.

We have one centrally located vacuüm hook up on each level.

You can see an extra outlet at the end of the hall, to the left of the door.

The central outlet in the basement is hidden in the toe kick of our entertainment center:

Our 30 foot hose reaches most areas, but not quite all, so we installed one additional outlet at the south end of each level.

The vacuüm hose package we purchased includes the hose, a rug cleaning head, a hardwood cleaning head, and several small brushes and crevice tools. This vacuüm makes cleaning the miles of trim a breeze because of the reach of the hose. Vacuuming the stairs has never been easier, either thanks to the light weight hose. No more lugging a heavy vacuüm up and down the stairs. No more changing bags, just dumping the 12 gallon canister occasionally. And, it is easily stored in a small hall closet with other cleaning supplies.