A Sporty and Neutral Shared Boys Bedroom

From sounds of stifled giggles way past their bedtime, silly or surprisingly deep conversations, to catching the older brother reading to the younger, there's something pretty special that happens when kids share a room. Don't get me wrong, there's still more fights than I'd like and at times there's not enough space for the both of them, but I'm relishing this time and one day they'll look back and remember these times fondly–at least that's what I keep telling them.

When we moved in, there were enough rooms so the boys didn't have to share, but we wanted them to continue to bunk together. For one, Luke could keep an eye on his younger more mischievous brother and we could also use the extra room as a guest/office. While we still wanted it to be a room for boys, we were leaning towards a more sophisticated and neutral design this time around. In our last home, the boys' room had lots going on–gray and white striped walls, a DIY platform bed, a chalkboard wall–nearly every trend you could imagine. For this space (and the entire home), I wanted rooms to be much more simple and serene. It probably has something to do with all the chaos that two wild boys and busy schedules bring.

We painted over the blue walls with Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter and painted the dark blue ceiling, closet doors and trim in Benjamin Moore Simply White, a creamy, warm white. The neutral greige walls and white ceiling make the room feel clean, bright and quite a bit larger.

We built the beds using plans from Jennifer Largesse at Build - Basic and utilized a few things we had around the house like the metal shelving unit and dresser from Ikea. Then we threw in some cork boards so the kids could display their artwork and a couple bug pillows for good measure. We also replaced the dated ceiling fan with an updated model from Hunter.

Source List: Walls (Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter HC-172); Trim, Closet & Ceiling (Benjamin Moore Simply White OC-117); Beds (DIY | Home Depot | Build - Basic); Bedding (Ikea | Bjornloka Duvet Cover); Dresser (Ikea | Hemnes 3 Drawer Chest); Rug (West Elm); Drapes (Pottery Barn Teen | Suite Ribbon Blackout Drapes); Kids Table and Chairs (Ikea | Sundvik Table & Chairs); Cork Boards (Ikea | Vaggis Noticeboard); Ceiling Light (Home Depot | Hunter Conroy 42" Ceiling Light Fan)

This simple paint color update we've made, from the all blue room above to the more modern, neutral and versatile room, will grow with the boys and allows us to make changes to the room later on down the road without a bunch of work.

DIY // How To Repair Your Walls with 3M DIY & A Bedroom Makeover

Our house was previously a rental property that experienced some abuse from tenants.  The owners had fixed it up and rented it out; only to have to replace the carpet and paint the walls after the tenants destroyed the place.  I totally get the frustration of having to fix what you've just repaired but using a paint sprayer while frustrated really does no good to anyone.  Drips are not attractive or easy to remove once they've dried.  The same rings true for wallpaper that's been painted over.  Unfortunately, we inherited both as well as a million nail holes all over the room. What on earth were they hanging?  I will always wonder…

After living here for 2 1/2 years and staring at the eyesores, I finally gained the motivation to tackle it all.  Actually it didn't quite work out that way.  My curious little 4 year old noticed a piece of the wallpaper peeling so he pulled at it....and kept pulling at pieces.  He took most of it off and I finished the rest for him with my trusty knife from the kitchen. Hey, it was quick to grab and I was impatient.

DIY // The Kitchen/Mudroom Renovation - What We Love & What We Don't

It's been a good 6 months since we finished our Kitchen/Mudroom renovation, so I thought I'd share a breakdown of what we have loved and what we kind of don't.



Let's start with the positives and a good ol' before and after as a refresher of how much this space has changed since we first moved in back in December 2011.

Uncovering the Hardwoods

Just peeking out of my unmotivated state (have you noticed?) to share a funny little story.

I know I've mentioned this before but sometimes I get in a manic I-need-to-change-something-NOW mood.  You'd think that I'd learn to not give in to these crazy episodes.  There's lots that I could do...like finish peeling the wallpaper border off our bedroom wall (which is a result of another day where I let the crazy get the best of me), paint the trim, touch up paint in the living room where we removed the baseboard heaters or deep clean the house, but none of those would satiate me.  I.wanted.those.floors. I've dreamed of wood floors since the day we moved in and when I discovered them a couple months back it's been itching at me to uncover them.

So the other day, during a very rare two kid nap, I set out to pull up the carpet. I moved the furniture out of the way as best I could, unassembled the sofa (the chaise detaches and the pull out bed comes out) and started pulling it up - moving things around as I went.  It was exhausting.  But I was fueled by grand thoughts of refinishing this beat up flooring to a more beautiful state and had visions of Nicole Curtis egging me on.

I rolled up the carpet (very unprofessionally) and pushed it out the front door.  Then I grabbed the pliers and small pry bar to pull up the tack strips, nails and staples that were left behind.

Baby & Toddler // Kids' Shared Room Reveal

Luke and Callaghan's room is well on its way to being a finished space.  The painted striped walls and painted chalkboard wall are still hanging tough but we made a few changes to make it more suitable for two kids.  The addition of the DIY loft bed allowed us to open up some flooring space.  If you remember from our children's shared bedroom inspiration post, we initially wanted to place the crib underneath but we just weren't comfortable with how tall the loft bed would have had to be.  So we scrapped that idea and decided a play & work area underneath would be better all around.

Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary // Mudroom Renovation Budget Breakdown

We're revisiting our budget over on Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary today.  Initially we budgeted $3000 for our DIY Mudroom Renovation.  How do you think we did?  Hop on over to Apartment Therapy and find out for yourself!

Our Renovation Diary project is wrapping up - only one more post - and it sure does make me sad.  I've loved sharing our renovation with you via Apartment Therapy...perhaps they'd be interested in our attic renovation??  A girl can dream...

Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary // The Mudroom Reveal

It's here!  The big reveal day and I am just so excited to share it all with you.  So, hop on over to our latest installment of our Renovation Diary on Apartment Therapy and check out the finished project for yourself, but watch out - you might have to pick your jaw off the floor!

To really feel the full affects of this DIY renovation, check out where we started - dark wood paneled walls, closed off spaces and no real style to speak of.  To say that I'm happy with the change is a definite understatement!

Budget Friendly DIY Kitchen Renovation // The Big Reveal

If you're keeping up with our Renovation Diary feature on Apartment Therapy - you know the posts are pretty far behind our actual progress.   Real far behind, actually, because we're completely finished (shh...don't tell those AT readers!)  I mean...we're not crazy enough to start a remodel project when our baby is due....or are we?

While I can't show you photos of the new mudroom and kitchen nook space since we're just getting started on that project (wink, wink...nudge, nudge) I can show you photos of our kitchen which includes new flooring, crown molding and our new Moen Woodmere faucet.  And if you remember WAY back in early 2012 we tackled the bulk of the work in this room which included:

• Removing the header, taking the walls down to the studs and installing new drywall 
• Mudding & sanding drywall
• Painting the cabinets white
• Priming/Painting the drywall
• Installing/Raising the cabinets
• Painting wallpaper
• Adding open shelving
• Adding wall storage
• Updating the kitchen lighting
• Adding open shelving above the refrigerator

What didn't we change?  The layout and the counters were left alone (even that awful stainless trim) which helped keep the cost down.  The kitchen renovation was probably somewhere around $1200 including the Forna black beach cork flooring from iCork Floor, plus $800 for the stainless steel appliances we scored on craigslist.  Is there a better layout for this kitchen...hell yes!  But it would involve opening up the wall into the living room, relocating the oven and fridge and creating one big ol' open space....and lots more money.  And that just ain't happenin'.  So this little budget-friendly DIY kitchen renovation was a "work with what ya got" project rather than a full-on gut remodel.

And without further ado...

Let's just take a quick look back at what the kitchen looked like when we moved in...wallpapered walls and soffit, oak cabinets, maple-ish laminated floors, white appliances, vinyl backsplash and boob lights galore.  Not the worst kitchen I've ever seen but I knew it could be better.  At the very least we could fill that huge gap where the bottom cabinets end on the far right.

Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary // Refueling the Fire

We're chugging along on this mudroom renovation.  Check out our latest installment on Apartment Therapy's Renovation Diary.

I love looking back at this renovation project - it's amazing how it all came together and how much family played a part in the whole process.

Curb Appeal // How to Paint Your Home's Exterior

You know that house - the one that's right in the middle of some big outdoor project but then is stuck in limbo for one reason or another and there it sits unfinished for months on end. We were that house.

At the end of June, I started painting the exterior - knocked out 5 of 7 walls with a roller and brush and had only two left.  Mind you, they were the two sides of the house that were tallest and required a much taller ladder than this pregnant lady was comfortable climbing. So, the last little bit was saved for the hubs who, unfortunately, hightailed it to Alaska before the job could be finished leaving it half painted for 4 months.

Don't worry - it wasn't left in this literal half-painted state. I did get the entire front finished (with help from my brother on the extra high parts.)

With the arrival of the baby right around the corner and the fact that fall is in full-force we knew we had to get this job finished. Fortunately we had all our go-to painting supplies on hand and even more fortunate - our neighbors had a paint sprayer leftover from their house painting project - so we were able to bust out the last two walls in no time.

Change Is Good // A Living Room Update

I'm in deep, folks.  My nesting urges are taking over and my home isn't safe.  I went a little crazy the other day and rearranged our entire living room.  Sure, as a 9-month pregnant lady I shouldn't be moving around heavy pieces of furniture but good luck trying to talk me out of it.

Our living room has always felt overstuffed.  Our sofa is too large and the chaise just doesn't work with our layout.  As it initally sat, it was smack dab in the middle of the room's flow between the front door and the kitchen.  When we first moved in we tested it out in every section of the room and for some reason we settled on that location.  We've had to weave our way through furniture to move from one room to the next and our available floor space is pretty much nonexistent.  Throw toys into the mix and whoa nelly!  On the flip side, the tv console is much too small for our 46" tv.  It should be about 6-inches or so longer on each side and it's placement flanking the fireplace is all wrong.

It's a room where nothing works and we're just living with it.  Oh but we have plans...future plans.  I won't even begin to start talking about busting through the walls - that's a dream for another day.  But with the addition of built-ins flanking the fireplace, updated carpet like this Comfortably Classic carpet from Mohawk or this Martha Stewart Living Shaw carpet, windows above each built-in to bring in more natural light and a smaller sofa it will be a more functional and better designed space. But it's going to be awhile until any of those changes are made.  So we're stuck...at least with the main elements of the space.

Curb Appeal // DIY Porch Columns

Talk about a slow transformation - the front of our house has gotten little attention until recently.  We replaced the posts and porch before we moved in but didn't give the front a second thought until a few weeks ago when I updated the porch lamp, stained the new/old porch and painted the exterior.  There's still a lot to tackle, so I took an overcast day to scratch one of them off of our to-do list.

We have two treated 4x6 posts supporting our porch roof.  Since their installation, they've just been the orange-reddish shade of treated lumber and it looked absolutely awful.  A few weeks ago I gave them a coat of white paint, which made them look better from afar, but not so much up close.  I've been wanting to wrap the posts to cover the punctured look of the treated wood and beef them up to create two architectural columns but was putting it off until we stained the porch.  With that out of the way, I was finally free to get this project started.  Unfortunately, I was on my own because Josh is in Alaska for the next few weeks.

I'm not always the safest DIY'er - I'm a little spontaneous when it comes to projects.  As soon as I think of something, I want to get started on it right away and I don't want to be hindered by having to run to the store for safety equipment like eyewear and masks.  Luckily, I had everything on hand from 3MDIY.com to safely transform our support posts into beefy columns.

Here's what I used:

• (5) Primed 1x6 whitewood
• (1) Primed 1x2 whitewood
• Holmes Workwear™ Premium Safety Eyewear
• 3M™ Wood Filler (white)
• 3M™ Sandpaper with NO-SLIP GRIP™ Backing
• ScotchBlue™ Drop
• ScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape with Edge-Lock
• Miter saw
• Nail gun/hammer & nails 
• Caulk
• Exterior Semi-Gloss Paint
• Paint brush/small roller

First, I removed the gutters from the posts and set them aside, along with the mounting hardware.

Using a pry bar, I removed the old header board which was too small for what I wanted, plus it had seen better days.  Look at me being all safe and serious...lucky for me that I wore the safety glasses because there was all sorts of dirt and debris falling out from underneath the header.

I kept the old header handy to use as a template for the new header, then used the miter saw to cut the angled ends.

Making sure the header was level, I secured it in place with a nail gun.  Next, I started on the post wraps by measuring each side from the top of the post to where the post meets the porch.  I leave about 1/4" gap between the end of the wrap and the porch for drainage.  As I mentioned, our posts are 4x6s so I started with the widest sides first.

Then I attached the front and back boards, which overlapped the sides leaving a slight reveal.  The following photo shows a finished column on the left and the post on the right.

I finished up the second post and then added a 1x2 board to the header.

Since I was using primed wood and planned to paint the columns white, I used 3M™ wood filler in white and filled all of the nail holes.  I also caulked the spaces where each board met to seal it against water.  After the wood filler & caulk had dried, I lightly sanded each spot using the 3M™ sandpaper to smooth it out and remove any extra filler.

Lastly, I broke out the painting supplies.  I used the drop cloth to save our porch from any wayward drops of paint and used Scotch Blue tape around the bottom of each column.

A few hours out of my day and our porch is starting to look amazing!  I'm still thinking of adding trim to the bottom of each column just to give it one more detail.  And I still need to finish painting the porch ceiling, gutters and rafters - and plant those dang plants!  So many things to do...

There's still lots of work to be done out front - add window boxes & shutters, replace our street numbers with a larger more contemporary style, paint the door, and add landscaping, plus....I really need to mow again!  But check out the before and progress...this little house has come a long way.

So what about you guys?  Do you keep yourself safe when working on projects?  What ways are you sprucing up your exterior this summer?

This post is a collaboration with 3M DIY. To keep up-to-date on projects, products and sampling visit 3MDIY.com or follow them on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Linking Up:
Liz Marie Blog

Curb Appeal // A Porch Makeover - A Year and A Half In The Making

Our front porch finally got a makeover and oh boy, what a difference it made!  I'm sure it would have looked great with just a fresh exterior paint job, or new stain on the deck, freshening the lamp or adding some greenery and an updated rug, but the combination of all of them made it all that much more pleasing.

Sometimes there are projects that I think of and get to work on immediately - others sit in my mind for years before I start on them.  Our porch is definitely one of the latter.  We replaced the old rotting front porch when we moved into the house (actually, before we had even closed...it was a weird situation where we had to do some updates before our bank would sign off.  I'm still frustrated that WE had to do the work, but whatevs.)  Our new porch was a pretty cedar that, once built, was pretty much neglected.  No stain, no paint - nothing.

Luke's Room Featured on Apartment Therapy

Man, I love room transformations - and this is one of my favorites.  Remember when I took Luke's room from boring to fun last summer?  Well, it's being featured over at Apartment Therapy today. 

I still love this room - and it's still exactly as it was a year or so ago (after I mounted the magnetic board) but that's all about to change.  Our two boys (yes, there's another fun little boy on its way!) will be sharing this room.  We have some fun updates in the works (like a bunkbed similar to this or this) to utilize the space and make it perfect for both an infant and toddler, so stay tuned!

Until then, just jump on over to AT and see Luke's room in all its glory.

Beadboard / Board & Batten DIY Reveal & How-To

This bathroom started as a basic builder's grade shell with beige tile floors, beige tile shower and beige walls.  We are still rocking the beige but we've added a fresh update to break up the monotone color and give the room a bit of texture and character.

Let's just go back in time a bit - back to late 2011 when we stepped foot into this little fixer upper, looked around and thought...yep, this one is it.  Our little house was pretty boring - actually extremely boring.  The walls and ceilings were a cream color - the carpet, brown - and the bathroom...well, the bathroom was nearly beige from floor to ceiling.

Give Your Outdoor Lighting A Fresh Update

Last week, while Josh was hard at work on the mudroom/nook/kitchen reno (or munoki??) I took advantage of the sunny weather and crossed off a few projects from my outdoor to-do list.  I didn't manage to fully complete them all (the house is just partially painted) but I did update our front porch light.

The light was a dirty white sconce that had seen better days. It's (barely) visible here in this listing photo of our home.

DIY DECOR: A Dark & Dated Ottoman Gets a Bright Update

Just like my trash to treasure cabinet, there's nothing better than taking a "seen-better-days" piece and transforming it into something beautiful.  This ottoman is no exception.  Plus, this had to be the one of the easiest upholstery projects in history - right up there with my chair cushion upholstery project!  If you can cut fabric and wield a staple gun then you can upholster a cushion.

I grabbed the piece from our local thrift shop for $3.99.  The floral needlepoint top was a little too traditional and dated for our home, but I knew with a little cleanup and update it could be a cool addition to our living room decor.

The Paint That Cured The Itch

Not THAT itch.  Thank god.  My itch is a little more mental.  There are so many pending projects around the house that it's feeling a bit overwhelming and with our budget cut it seems that nothing is going to get done.  This lack of progress has me in a bit of a funk and if you've noticed I haven't been up to much on this ol' blog (which is now one year old) and that's a bit scary.  If I'm dormant for too long - watch out!  I get that itch to get creative and who knows what'll happen.  This time around wasn't too drastic, but the final results did sway from my originally intended design scheme just a bit.

My plan was to paint all of the living spaces (i.e. the living room, hallway, stairway, landing, etc.) a light warm gray covering up the off-white that is painted everywhere including the trim and ceiling.  I swear they just moved through the whole house with a paint sprayer and no surface was safe!  (Sounds familiar, Pops?)  Yes, gray.  Just like everyone else.

I like gray.  No, I love gray.  If you're a Pinterest follower then I'm sure you're well aware of my love of gray.  It's a perfect neutral and is both modern and traditional.  It's perfect for our young little family and our little coastal cottage. BUT, my warm gray color would be a new purchase.  One that I don't really think I could rationalize to my hubby which means that I'd have to live with these hideous off-white walls for whoever knows how long.

Before & After: Bland Nursery to Hip Big Kid Room

The old adage "time flies" is ringing true this week.  Luke transitioned from his crib to a big boy bed after he started scaling it like he was climbing over a pebble.  I figured that his room might as well get a big boy update as well so I turned to my good ol' friend - Paint.

 
I broke out some painters tape and two gallons of OOPS paint from Home Depot one in a semi-gloss white and the other in an eggshell gray and painted large stripes on the walls.  Once I got the gray on