February Before & After: A pretty pitcher

Hello all! I’m back this month with a very simple but beautiful (I think so anyway) before and after project!

It started with a recent trip to Goodwill – I don’t go as often as I used to (see my STUFF post), so I haven’t found nearly as much good stuff as I used to. (You have to go fairly often to get the good pickins.)

But that day, the heavens shined down on this beauty on the top shelf:

Ummm…OK, well the shape was beautiful. I guess the flowers weren’t that bad, they just weren’t what I was  going for. :)

But the size, the lovely lines, the beautiful spout – they had me at Hello.

I knew I could spruce her up with a few coats of spray paint. And a “few” coats turned into about eleventy billion. Or so. Maybe about seven. Whatever.

It took five coats of spray primer to get those purdy flowers covered up. I did an additional two coats of a glossy white on top.

After trip to Trader Joe’s for some (fairly) cheap tulips, I was able to bring my vision for this cutie to life:

Oh SWOON. Just…swoon. I am so ready for tulips people. I actually don’t mind the snow that much – but we’ve been hammered with it and ice over the past couple of months (way more than usual) and I’m really starting to miss green grass.

Will I ever see it again?

I don’t care what Punxsutawney Phil says, I think it’s gonna be awhile.  :)

Even with the meeeellion coats of spray paint, this is one of my easiest and favorite spray paint transformations yet:

I wish I could have gotten some shots in the daylight, but we got home from dinner too late. I’m ready for more photo taking hours in the day too, while we’re talking about spring. :)

I absolutely love the pretty shape – looks like it came out of a Pottery Barn catalog doesn’t it?

Only their version -- $39. Mine? A whole five buckaroos. :)

WHOO HOO!

Now, I won’t be pouring any lemonade with mine – it’s just for holding beautiful flowers. And I’m totally OK with that.

I just LOVE IT.

Soooo…my before and after for the month – a Goodwill find transformed with my beloved. My BFF. Spray paint:

Now it’s time to see what you’ve been up to!

Be sure to link up to your post, not your blog. And I’d love it if you’d include this pretty little button and a link back to this post:

I’m trying a new linky this time, so I hope this works! :)

Have fun – I’ll leave this open for a week, so link. it. up!

 

I do what I want

I may have mentioned five or 95 times that I do not like the way we set up our family room when we built our house. I so wish would have just gone with the model specs – cause they worked.

But no, no, no. We had to be all, Let’s smush the windows together. Yeah! And, Let’s put in a corner fireplace, it will be so cool. YEAH! And, Let’s have all of the TV and surround system wiring installed in the itty bitty wall right next to the (awesome!) corner fireplace. Yeahhhhh!

None of these things work. :) Both hubs and I have said for quite some time that our family room is the only space that bothers us in our house. And we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Drats.

When we have a party, the family room seems to get so cramped – because it is. We like to call it cozy, because it is. :) But the thing is, it’s not a small room – it measures 16 by 18 feet (at the longest points). That's HUGE!

Other than the way we set it up, there’s a few other issues. First of all, much of the room is a walkway between the garage and the rest of the house. Then, there’s the fact that we only have one full wall in the whole space. Open floor plans are great, but they come with their own issues. :) And finally, we’ve had a regular sized sofa and a loveseat in the room:

It’s a lot of furniture for this space. And I tell you what…by the end of last year it was starting to drive me a little mad.

I chalk it up to the end of the season hives that start popping up right before Christmas…the desire I start getting to get our house back to normal. Clean. Spacious. I love that feeling of putting everything away and having our house feel brand new again!

I had an idea that would help solve the cramped cozy feeling in the room…I was going to take out one of the sofas.

But I hesitated. I mean, was I allowed to do that? Really? Remove seating?

Would the sun stop shining? The birds stop chirping? The world fall off it’s axis?

And then I realized…geez Louise. It’s our house. We’re allowed to do whatever we want. :) As long as we like it, who cares? I could remove it all and put floor pillows in there, and as long as we like it and our guests were comfy, why does it matter?

So I did it. As soon as Christmas was packed up, I started. First, I pulled the loveseat out of the way and eyed it. I LOVED IT. I pulled it away even further, and I was SOLD.

Hellooooo space!!!:

Even though I loved it, it took some getting used to. I kept asking myself, am I really allowed do this? We only have seating for three or four people now.

But, interestingly enough – only three people live here. ;) And at the most, when my stepdaughter is home from school, it’s four.

Perfect.

One of us ends up on the floor half the time anyway. So…I called hubby to look, and his first reaction was I LOVE IT. Then, it was, wait…is it OK to not have another place to sit?

Seriously, are there couch police or something?

I never looked back though. Every. single. time. I walk in our house now, I feel lighter. We have space people!:

The only bad part – now that there’s no loveseat to block it, we can see all the critters, cords (GAH!!) and cars that live in the dust under the dresser:

It’s a price I’m willing to pay. :)

Removing the loveseat has quite literally doubled our usable space in here. No longer is the Bub quarantined to a five by four foot space to play. We can spread out to play games. I actually have plenty of room to lay down and do sit ups:

Stop laughing!

Wait, that’s me. Laughing. At myself. I don’t lay down and do sit ups. :)

Soon we will be getting a new sofa (with a chaise attached) after we finish paying off our debt. We hope to fit a small chair in the room as well, but we’ll have to see. (The current furniture is in sad, sad shape, which I’ll show you soon.)

But in the meantime, I found an adorable little poof on clearance at Meijer:

 

It’s so freakin’ cute! It’s really an ottoman, but it looks like one of those poofs to me. For $35, it serves as an extra seat that we can move around the room. LOVE!

Now, because I caught it in action, I will show you the daily occurrence at our house – the throwing of all the pillows on the floor. I give you, for your viewing pleasure, my son and his thought process…

Oh, look at that! What a pretty, soft pillow! I should lay my head on it!:

But noooo, why would I do that? It would look so much better on the floor. Daddy agrees, he does it every day too. I’m just gonna put it right down…

On. the. floor. It’s SO much better there, right?

And…he’s laughing. Awesome.

Anyone else have this problem with the children/men in their lives? :)

You know what’s funny? It’s been pretty awesome to have just one sofa – we’ve ended up all cuddled together every evening. (I’d like to say that was my plan all along!)

And I figure, if we have a party before we get a new sofa and need more seating, we’ll just pull out the folding chairs. EGADS. (Heaven forbid.)

It’s worth it to me:

Here’s a few before and after shots – with the loveseat:

Sans the loveseat:

With:

Without:

I tried removing the end table to the left of the sofa, but it was a bit too stark for me. For now, it’s staying. (This angle makes it look like it’s sticking way out, but it’s not.)

I love the change!! I was able to pull the sofa away from the wall a bit, which always bugged me. Because we don’t have to worry about the loveseat sticking out, I also pulled the sofa closer to the TV, so we have a BUNCH more space in the eating area in the kitchen. It fixed a number of issues that bugged me for YEARS about our great room space.

I’ve been thinkin’, and have a few more ideas for a slight reworking of this room. It will depend on how much the quote is from some professionals, but I’ll let you know if anything comes of it. :)

For now, we’re enjoying what feels like a brand new family room!

Before:

And now….ahhhhh:

It may not be for everyone, but that’s OK. It’s our house and whateva whateva, we do what we want! (Name that show.)

Now…if I could just get rid of that massive subwoofer next to the TV cabinet, all would be right in my world. (They make smaller ones, but for a much larger price.)  :)

Is there something you’ve held back on doing in your house because you feel like it’s not allowed? Who said? Who cares? It’s YOUR home. Enjoy it, live in it. Do what makes it more comfortable for YOU. :)

P.S. The rug is from HomeGoods. The coffee table from Goodwill. The drapes I made myself. The sofa table is from Ikea. The dresser was a Craigslist find. :) You can all of the family room posts here.

P.P.S. The loveseat is in the basement. I shoved it down there today by myself – it has been in our dining room for a week, and I couldn’t take it anymore. :) Hear me roar! Or call me crazy.

P.P.S.S. (??) We’ve tried the layout every single way possible before now – I mean…every. single. way. The loveseat is too long to go in front of the window – it goes right up against the fireplace and looks odd. Then the long sofa is pushed way too far out in the walkway. Angling the sofa makes for a weird configuration with the sofa table/kitchen. (Thank you for the ideas though – you never know if something will work!!)  :)

Before and After Party: Installing crown!

Hey all! It’s a new year, and that means some fun new projects up in here. In between the decluttering (I’m attacking the excess Christmas decor) I finished up a project I’ve wanted to do for YEARS.

I told you way back when in this post that I didn’t know how to cope or cut crown molding – so I’ve always used the corner pieces like these when installing crown:

And I really love them – they add a little extra architectural interest. And they fit right into the corners and make the installation of crown SO much easier. You just cut straight cuts and butt the crown up against it.

The only issue is the cost – they aren’t cheap. Easy, yes – cheap, no.  (Um, this post is taking a very wrong turn.)

Anyway, I’ve been determined for years to figure out how to cut crown so I wouldn’t need the corner pieces.

When I mentioned this on Twitter and Facebook (because I was so excited!), I said I had figured out how to cope crown, which is the wrong terminology. Coping is actually a process of cutting out the shape of the molding so it fits snug into the other piece:

I did not do this. :) That’s still way over my head. But I did figure out how to cut the crown on my miter saw, which has eluded me for years! Yessss.

It was SO stinking easy. Seriously, I can’t believe it took me this long to figure it out. There are a few tricks to doing it right that I figured out along the way.

First of all, I used my compound miter saw. You do NOT have to have one – a miter box (like I used for years for my molding projects) will do just fine. It will just take more strength and endurance. :)

Because crown is installed at an angle, it changes things a bit. First of all, you need to place the crown at an angle on the saw when cutting it.

Here’s some pictures to help explain – for an inside cut, you to make sure the front is facing into the saw. This molding set up for a cut that will be on an inside left corner:

The front is facing into the saw, top on top, bottom on bottom.

Here’s what it will look like on the saw:

For a standard (inside) corner, you’ll want it set to a 45 degree angle:

You do the same thing for the right side of the molding:

You’ll notice the left of the molding on the saw is really the right side, and vice versa (because the back is facing you).

That’s it. Seriously, I waited how many years to figure this out? Here’s how your molding will look for an inside corner:

Notice you can see the edges of the wood? You want to see that, so when they go together up in the corner, they’ll meet up like this:

That’s the only tricky part, getting that angle right as you’re working around the room. You do want the back of the molding to be the longer edge, not the front:

Does that make sense? That part is huge! For an inside corner, it just won’t meet up the other way.

Installation is EASY – you’ll just need someone to help you hold up the pieces as you nail them in (thanks Dad!!).

I used our nail gun and nails that were just over an inch long:

I put nails in the bottom of the molding every 18 inches or so, and you’ll want to get them into a few studs along the way. I don’t worry about that too much – crown isn’t too heavy (typically), so as long as  you get nails in a few studs you’ll be good. I also put some through the top (into the ceiling) as well, just to secure it a bit more.

Something to think about as you have the molding on the saw is to watch how it rests. If you have it at this angle for one cut:

Make sure it’s not lower like this:

Or this:

For the other cuts. It will change how the molding meets in the corners.

If you do it (fairly) right, you’ll end up with this:

Don’t worry about it being perfect!! More on that in a bit!

One thing that’s held me back from figuring this out in the office was the weird angles at the doorway:

But we quickly figured out it was the exact same cuts, just at a 22.5 degree angle:

So, overall, this was WAY easier than I thought it would be. But, as always, I ran into issues I figure you all will too. So I want to mention them. So you don’t hate on me when you try it. :)

I’ve mentioned before that when you pick out molding, you’ll want to make sure it lays flat against the floor. Any pieces that are slightly bent or wackadoodle will give you issues when you install them.

I knew one of mine was slightly off and used it anyway, and wish I wouldn’t have. Because it was bowing, it looked like this when I got it up:

See the eleventy billion holes? Yeah. That’s me trying to get it to go flush against the wall. It wasn’t. :) There was no stud at the point where there was an issue, the nails just weren’t grabbing anything. So I was left with a spot that didn’t match up perfectly.

I could have just taken it all down, cut a new piece and reinstalled everything. But I don’t roll like that. I hide, hide, HIDE all the imperfections I can. :)

Also, if you don’t have a piece long enough for a whole wall, you’ll need to meet up two – which is why I cut the crown at an angle above. Supposedly an angled cut hides more than a straight one – that’s what I’ve heard anyway. I’ve done it both ways, and over time, both need to be touched up as things settle.

So basically, do what you want. :)

That brings me to my next point – caulk is your BFF. Don’t fret if it looks like patoot after you install everything. Caulk and putty cover a multitude of sins. Here’s that same spot with caulk covering the nail holes and the crack:

When I paint, it will cover it up even more. Most people will never notice it. MOST. :)

You can see how the bowed piece didn’t meet up with the wall perfectly on the bottom:

Can you see the gap? I’ll caulk it so you won’t even notice it. Or maybe I won’t. :) It doesn’t bother me too much, but that’s me.

Finally, I was thisclose to done with the room, when I finished up the last corner – and the two corners didn’t match up. You need to make sure the angles of the crown (how it fits on the wall) are exactly the same as you go around. Does that make sense? If you are slightly off in the way you hold it up and install it, it won’t match up perfectly at the corners, no matter how well you miter those corners.

Again…CAULK IS YOUR BEST FRIEND. Serious. Remember, crown is up high. Way above your head. People can’t see the itty bitty imperfections. Only YOU do. Trust me. :)

So, for now, it’s done. My plan was to install a skinny trim an inch or two down from the crown, then paint it all out white (this gives the illusion of chunkier molding), but I’m going to wait to see how it looks with all of the board and batten before I do that.

By the way, doing that would hide even more imperfections. :)

Here’s the end result!:

   

OH my, what a difference!! Isn’t that crazy?

Goodness, I LOVE MOLDING!! :)

So here’s my before and after for the month – the office before crown:

And after!

(Don’t worry – the cord will be hidden by the beautiful drapery fabric.)

I hope my pictures and instructions help and don’t make you more confused! Keep in mind, I only had to do inside corners. I haven’t had to attempt the outside versions yet. :)

And YES, you can do this with an $8 miter box and a hand saw, and YES, you can install crown with regular nails and a hammer. (I’ve done both in our dining room.)

It will just take you a bit longer to get to the finished product. :)

I can’t wait to see your before and afters for the new year! Remember, be sure to link up to your post, not your blog! And you’re welcome to add this purdy little button to your post:

Thank so much! Link it up Squeezays!!