Light fixture fix on the cheap!

When we bought this house I knew there were a ton of things I wanted to change, but the cost of changing the light fixtures shocked me! I had no idea how expensive light fixtures could be! So instead of investing the money right away, I decided to try something else first....

 

Original light fixture in it's funky amber, copper, beaded way.... it wasn't completely hideous, but I just didn't like it at all.

 The below picture shows the amber plastic beads that were strung from the top to each little "arm" that holds the light bulb.

So instead of buying a new light fixture I grabbed a can of spray paint and got to work! I removed the beads- they really didn't need to come back! I took the pieces off that were loose and then started spraying.

Seriously for $5 this thing already looks better and it's the first coat!

Here she is after. I actually don't hate it now! I think it really helped just taking the beads off, but the silver paint gives it a new clean sparkle! I can live with it for now and eventually when all of the other projects that are more important have been finished, we can budget or new light fixtures!

Staying in the closet.

 

Our master bedroom has two large walk-in closets. We don't really need two walk-in closets, so I decided to get creative with the spare closet and create a little office nook!

 

 

 

This is the space when it was still being used as a catch all closet. When we moved in there were things we didn't know what to do with, so we would put them in the closet and pretty soon the closet door wouldn't open! I really believe that if a thing doesn't have a place then you make a place for it or get rid of it! So all of these random things were sorted and we made permanent homes for them- Goodwill was the permanent home for a few of them! Once the closet was empty I was able to move in a desk and hutch as well as craft supplies and books. The house we rented before had a much different color scheme, so I ended up furnishing that house with things that went with those colors. Once we moved, I had all of these cool things and nowhere to put them- until the nook came to life! I was able to keep the things I really like that don't match the rest of the house, and fill this nook up full of fun, quirky and colorful tid bits!

 
In order to accommodate the desk and hutch, I removed one rack of shelving - but I was able to just move it to the side wall and create more space over there! I brought in the things that I use a lot- my sewing machine, art supplies, books and the laptop all have a home in the nook!

 Because of the design of the house there is actually a window in each closet- which is weird to me- but in this case it works out perfectly! I have a great overhead light as well. The nook is super bright so I can easily do projects in here. I already had every single thing that I put in here- all of the furniture was stuff we weren't going to use in the rooms they had been in.

It looks very full and bright and ... messy! But I love it! I love that everywhere I look there is some fun little thing that has a reason that we own it. Someone made it, someone gave it to us, we bought it for a certain house, etc.- it's like a little storybook room of our life!

 

 

 One of the very best things about the nook is that the kids can see all of their art on display. I was able to fit a lot of their canvases on the wall and then I have two separate bulletin boards to pin new artwork on. Of course there are family pics and pics of the Mr. which make it so nice to sit and just soak up.

Even though there are so many mish mash things going on in this one tiny space, everything is very organized! There is a place for everything and it's easy to find what you need and then put it right back where it came from! I used the really high shelves to store boxes of photos. Most of them are of our first baby because we didn't have digital every. little. thing. No... we had film and so I have boxes of pictures that are hard copies that don't fit in my hand like all of the sd cards do! I really made a point to use every inch of space I could. I have a few hooks behind the door to hold bags and misc. things that we don't need often. I used some S shaped shower hooks to loop on the wire shelving and hang my camera bad and other little bags from there just over the top of the book shelf. I have wall décor that hasn't been used stored on the sides of the desk and then of course the important tax papers and things are stored in a small file in the nook also.

I have the bills in the metal tub on the desk, the art supplies in the rolling plastic bins, the sewing machine stored under the desk, the galvanized bucket is the garbage can and just near the door is a bookshelf of the kids' books. The desk surface is really big so I have plenty of room to scrapbook, sew and do whatever else I need to do.

 

 

 

 In the hutch I have envelopes, cards, stamps and pens so that I can easily find cards when I want to actually write someone! I also have little things that the kids have made and trinkets from some of our travels.

 

And last but not least you can see my lovely window! I have a corner office with a window and it's filled with some of my favorite treasures! Doesn't get much better than that!

Taming the beast!

Ah, the beast! This atrocity was apparently a good idea back a few years ago when the house was built, but not so much now that flat screen t.v.'s  are all that we have! Not only does it not work for our t.v., at some point someone thought it would work to stain over the top of white paint! So this poor thing had all kinds of things going wrong! I really wanted something clean and that would make the fireplace look  just a little more grand. So I dreamed up a little plan and made it happen! Here's what I did.....

 

 

 

 Took before pics to remind myself that no matter what I did, it likely wouldn't look any worse than it already did!

 There are no pics, but when the doors were opened there was a huge plywood box inside this hole. It was huge and heavy and thankfully only held in by two screws, one of which didn't even make contact with the framing! So, I took the doors off, unscrewed the screws, said a little prayer and pulled that baby out! Oh- right and I also had to disconnect the electrical that was in the back of the box. I turned off the main braker  just to be on the safe side! I couldn't risk frying the only parent my kids had at home at that moment! Once I got the box out (did I mention it was huge!!!- like I can sit in that hole and have dinner- seriously I think you could put a small bedroom in that space!) I had to make a new backer for the electrical because the builder didn't actually finish out the wall behind the box! So I just used a piece of plywood and cut it to fit then cut holes to pop the electrical boxes back through so they couldn't make contact with the insulation behind them.

 Next I used some screws to secure a 2x4 right down the middle of the box. There was really no reason I needed more than the one in the middle since there are 2x4's on each edge of the hole. I just wanted to be able to hang something right in the middle if I wanted to.

 Time to pretty it up! I chose to use very thin finished plywood for the front. It's really smooth and easy to cut and paint. I decided on a simple design that was the same length as the mantle. I used lock tight and finishing nails to secure it to the wall. I did go ahead and run some lock tight on the center stud too just to make sure it all stuck securely.

 The sheets of plywood are 4x8 feet so I needed two to fit the space. I decided to have my seam run across the top horizontally because I thought it would be less noticeable there. I went all the way to the ceiling with the plywood. I used finishing nails and lock tight on the smaller piece as well.

 To add a little charm I ran two thin 1x2 inch strips up vertically six inches in from each side. I knew I wanted big chunky molding at the top so I pre-measured the molding and stopped the strips so that they would meet the molding. I ended up choosing the same molding for the top as what was already on the fireplace mantle. I think it gives it more of an "always been there" look.

 Fresh white paint all around. I really wanted to have it look like it was always there so I painted everything white including the mantle. I sanded the dark stain off as much as I could and then put primer and white semi gloss paint. I didn't primer the top plywood because it was so smooth and accepted the paint easily.

 Here she is! Much prettier! I think the trim at the top adds so much charm! I didn't want it to look overly fancy or stuffy so rather than having the chunky molding come out into 45 degree angles, I chose to cut the molding straight and finish the edges with plywood.

 The front view. (side note- this was the first paint color I tried for the living room- and I hated it!)

 Here you can see the top molding and how it is flush with the edge instead of protruding out into 45 degree angles.

 So smooth and clean!

 The thick molding up top! So of course I learned something along the way- I would definitely spray paint the molding before installing it next time. It was a challenge to get all of the little grooves and angles covered. If I would have sprayed it or even hand brushed it before I installed it, I would have saved myself a lot of frustration! ~ live and learn!

 Just another shot of that beautiful trim and molding!

  I really love the added height- I think it really adds to the charm of the living room!

 As you can see- this project was just before we did new flooring! I couldn't believe how easy it was to rip out carpet! I was nervous to do it, but it was such a breeze! It was a little weird having raw concrete floors for a few days, but it made it so nice not to have to worry about getting paint on the floors!

 New fireplace and new floors! The living room is really coming together! I will post before pics of the full room so that you can truly appreciate the change!

The finished product! I am very happy with the way this turned out. The moment I had that huge box teetering on the edge of the mantle and was about to drop it on the floor, I did question whether or not I was making a good decision... but... I couldn't live looking at the huge brown beast- so I threw that box to the ground! I'm so glad I did! I am much happier with this look and I'm really thankful it all turned out how I had imagined it in my head!

Adding a little character to the garage door

I have always loved houses with carriage garage doors. I think they look charming and sophisticated. As soon as we bought the house I grabbed some  little carriage door accents for the garage. I think they were $18 at Home Depot.

 

 

 

Here is the garage door before. Just a plain old metal door. Nothing special and definitely not charming.

 

Ready to go. We read the instructions and then decided where we wanted to add our accents. It is literally just a few screws and screw caps and you are finished! Such an easy and cheap project, but adds a lot of charm!

 

 

 

Tada!!! So we opted to put the handles up higher than the actual handle. I have no intention of ever using them for actually raising the door, so putting them higher just meant we could see them from the street more easily.

 

 

 

I think the entire project took us about 15 minutes.

 

 

                 

 

Last shot of the door. I really love the added character and that the project was SO easy and inexpensive!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the street view! Our sweet little house is looking so much more loved!

Project #1- Guest Bathroom

Welcome to our first project! The guest bath is just a little toilet and sink room right off of the entry. I love the placement in the house and the size is perfect, but the colors and flooring were not my favorite. We knew when we bought the place that there were several things we wanted to change, and this was the first one I tackled.

 

 

 

 The guest bath originally had yellow paint (with sparkles mixed all in it!) and the builder's special mirror. There were at least two towel bars and then a little white cabinet...I  have no idea why the guest need a medicine cabinet, but hey, if they did, they were in luck!

 

 First things first! I took down the towel bars, toilet paper holder and mirror. I put up some bead board and then caulked the joints and corners. - sounds soooo easy... but getting that bead board completely even and matching up the lines was a little bit of a challenge. It's not perfect, but it was pretty darn good! I did this project by myself since the Mr. was out of town. Oh and notice the old flooring- yeah, that is vinyl stick on flooring... very weird! I had no idea that was even an option!

 

 Ah, coming together. The caulk in the corners and the fresh coats of white paint really make the bead board beautiful.

 

 Time to ditch that yellow sparkly paint! I chose this bright aqua- originally thinking it would work all downstairs, but it was way brighter than I expected. Funny how those paint swatches lie!!! But it is perfect for the bathroom!

 

 I put a decorative trim above the bead board and we added new flooring too. I love the color of the floors! I put the old mirror back until I found something I liked better.

 

 

 

Close up of the bead board and decorative trim. I had to put primer and several coats of paint to get it really uniform.

 

 

 My little bulldog picture. I found this picture a long time ago and just fell in love! It's a little quirky and bright and super cute!

 

 Found this chunky mirror! It was originally gold and I just taped it and spray painted it black to accent the dog picture.

 

 

I think we will add larger baseboards right in front of the existing ones- I want them to cover where the current baseboards and bead board meet. As of now I put little white rugs in front of the toilet and sink, and I'm still on the hunt for the perfect fabric for the window. Oh, did I mention there is a window in the bathroom? Yeah, right beside the toilet! So, if you need to see who is ringing the door bell while you answer nature's call, you totally can! Thankfully there are really nice blinds in there so the curtain isn't a rush!

Welcome Home!!!

Welcome to the Kempton Chronicles! We just bought the place, and it's been non-stop projects! We are diving right in to all the diy projects we can handle! We're not professionals- unless you can be a professional at "let's just give it a try and see how it goes"... because that is pretty much how we do it! It's been so fun so far. I'm starting this blog as a way to really chronicle the changes we are making. Sometimes I feel like we haven't done much, but then when I go back and look at the pictures I realize we have done A LOT in a very short time! We've been in the house for just over a month, and we've done more projects than I can count! We are really enjoying the work and being able to put our own spin on this place. I hope if anyone out there reads this, that you will enjoy the journey with us!