Painting OUT OF THE BOX (or closet in this case)

We have been working on some really fun projects for Kailyn's room.

Of course it is not all cute rainbows, bright colours and butterflies when painting and decorating a very stubborn, very independent and mature 15 year old's bedroom.

Picking the paint colour was a little more difficult, but after much debate we found one we both could agree on.

  
Once I started painting I really liked the colour especially against the white trim in her room, so much so, I got a crazy idea.  I thought the more the merrier and I started to paint out her closet doors.

Directly across from her closet wall we have a mural and a very fun headboard, makeup table and side table made of concrete going in.  SOOO we wanted that wall to be the focus in the room.  We are also placing a tall dresser on the same wall of the closet and I just did not like the look, it was too broken up for my liking with the white doors on the closet.  

So I went for it...

BEFORE: As you can see my before is a little after the fact but it was a millisecond thought and I just went with it.  I don't like to over think things most times.

STARTING: Truth be told, I was freaking out a bit at this point!  However the great thing about paint is that it is ONLY PAINT and you can repaint if needed.

Really freaking out at this point.

BUT, VERY HAPPY with the end result and most importantly Kailyn liked it too.

As you see I left her baseboards white.  I just painted the moldings around the closet and the doors.

TIPS TO PAINTING OUT A CLOSET:

Tip #1.
If you have carpet on the floor use a clear piece of packing tape. I first tried painters tape, it was too thin and flimsy and was not sticking good to the carpet.  A drop cloth will not do.  With the thick packing tape you are able to push down into the carpet and tape into the small space between the carpet and the molding.  This allows you to paint the molding right past the carpet without getting any paint on the carpet. 

 Perfectly done...no paint on the carpet.

Tip #2
When painting the closet doors don't forget the space in between the doors or at the end of the doors.  You don't want it to look unfinished when someone opens the door.

 Much better and finished!

Tip #3
I really like to paint doors with the small foam rollers for projects like this. I first trace out the squares with a paint brush and then finish painting with the foam roller.  They are easy to roll, they get into all the the groves and it is a little more fun...I think!

A couple of really cool door knobs and walla, a closet fit for a very stubborn, very independent and mature 15 year old's bedroom.    

I can't wait until this room is finished!!

Shut The Front Door

Well, if you have been following along on our little journey you will know that we are trying to finish up the front yard's face lift...BEFORE THE WINTER. 

Who knew it was going to take this long?

Our next project was to paint the front door. 

Colour was chosen   We went with Sherwin Williams Outer space.

I started painting the window frames around the door first, then cutting in with a brush painting all the  squares and areas that a roller would have trouble getting into and covering well.  Once that was done I used a little foam rolling brush to complete the job. 

 After the door was painted and a few days past it was time for some new hardware.  As you may know we are de-golding this house so the old door hardware HAD to go.  FYI door hardware is not cheap however it makes such a huge difference.

 It may look and sound easy ("Oh, lets just pop out the old hardware and put in the new stuff") but it really took some time and just a little frustration.

 But it was so worth the time and work.

 I love the new colour and hardware.  It makes the entrance feel a lot more welcoming and calming and trust me with a house full of screaming kids you need that little bit of serenity before you walk in the door of this house.

 Only a few more to-do's (new chairs for the porch, our surprise for a rock and a new door knocker) and the Front Yard Face Lift will be complete. 

De-Golding, A Light Upgrade From A Friend

A little upgrade at a wonderful price makes me happy. 

Living in our new house we are surrounded by shinny brass, gold painted everything and golden accents.  Connor says he loves all the gold because it makes us look rich.  Silly kid! 

One of my goals is to de-gold this house and when I can de-gold at a great price that makes me feel so happy.  I have been looking for new outside lights for a while now to replace the old black & brass ones.  I have not really found any that I loved...for the RIGHT price.  It is so hard to spend money on outside little things when there is so much inside big things to do.

However thankfully for us, our friends had a set of great lights with NO BRASS for a great price, we could not resist.

Our old lights

New lights

Next on the TO DO list:
Finish painting font door, this has been a loooong project
Find the perfect chairs for the front porch at a great price
Install a new door knocker, we just ordered one online :)
De-gold the address sign
Finish our front landscaping with our surprise rock that we are waiting to be finished

A Bedroom Mural

We created a wall mural for Kailyn's birthday bedroom re-do gift filled with images that she found and loves.  This will cover the wall above her bed. 

DIY Bike Rack and Organization

I don't know about your garage but ours is a mess but now after our DIY project it is a little less messy. 

After the move the garage was the place we put everything we had no room for or just did not want in the new house. Not only do we store that mess but it is also home to our kids bikes. 

The bikes have become a huge obstacle in this garage.  With no specific place for the bike to "belong" they always ended up thrown down and piled up on the garage floor blocking the entrance and all access to the garage.

It was time to do something about it...it was time for a DIY bike rack and a little creative organization.

The Bike Rack: 

Find the perfect spot for the bike rack:

We wanted our bike rack to hold 7 bikes.
Materials we used: two 10 foot 2x4's for the ends and four 8 foot 2x6's for the tire braces

We cut the 2x4's ends to desired length.

We figured out spacing for tire braces.

 We cut tire braces to 20"

 We screwed spacers to ends with a 2.25" space.

 The final step, stain. I have never worked with stain before and I was not happy at all with the way it looked when going on.  If this happens to you don't worry it will look SOOOO much better when that stain dries.  It looks GREAT now!

Still wet and I was not happy with the look however after this stain dried it looked great.

The Creative Organization:

With the bike rack complete it was now time to make name tag labels for everyone's bike spot.  This is VERY important at our house.  Everyone NEEDS their very own place and there is NO SWAPPING PLACES once they are picked.

We went to the Dollar Store and pick up a few art supplies and art canvas and the kids went to work.

The Finished Product:

With all the bikes placed in their spots on the rack we added their name tags and a hook for each kids helmet.  A white wire shelf and a few storage bags were added for extra helmets, bike extras and kids toys.

I'm very happy with our finished look