Mommy Cave

After closing the door and walking away from the upstairs 4th bedroom, I decided it was finally time to tackle what had been the kids computer, study, TV space. It had become the "let's just put it in that room and close the door" space. Perhaps if I made it MY mommy space, I would have more drive to get it done.

 So first came the clean out and purge, sell, relocate. PLUS, the room had never been painted since we moved in. Still the same builders white with lots of kids marks.

 Started cleaning out the room aka, moving piles from the room into the hallway, LOL!

AND don't judge you  know you all have a room, a closet, a drawer that collects everything.

Finally everything is cleaned out of the room!

And the hallway piles were diminishing too!

The only thing I didn't do was install the crown moulding. I totally know my limits. 

Crown moulding makes everything look so much nicer. 

I decided on a black and gold color scheme after I found a great area rug at ROSS. 

 Painting complete, now time for furniture. As I have a large collection of children's books I wanted nice bookshelves. I found two solid wood bookcases at Just Cabinets. So many are not real wood. They were my only splurge but still on sale and totally worth it.

Here are a few of my purchases for the room. I just kept finding deals everywhere. 

Sometimes shopping goes like that and everything falls into place, but 

you have to be persistent and check out all your favorite haunts.

Found a great cabinet at a great price. It was probably a great price because this is how it came.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!! Piece A into Piece B etc. 

Took forever but the finished product was worth it.

Making progress!!

 TAH DAHHHH!

 
 Ordered daybed online from Overstock. Again great deal, on sale and free shipping coupon.
Oh and see the small black table? Got it all Walmart in a box on the clearance shelf for $2!!!

I KNOW!!! Its wood and no scratches or anything.

Still in need of a window treatment and some more art for above the bed, but 

I'm happy with my cozy Mom Cave. 

DIY fast and easy bathroom makeover.

I didn't spend a lot of time in our upstairs bathroom that we called the "kids" bathroom, since both of my children had grown up and moved out. It was time for the bathroom to grow up too. I tend to have bursts of decorating frenzy. I had gone into the bathroom to put away some towels and thought "this place needs a makeover. Plus I had probably been watching too much HGTV!

I made the rookie mistake of not taking "before" photos, instead I just got started stripping wallpaper. It was little pink hearts with blue and green swirls and the decor was country, my "go to" at the time we moved in to the house. Let me just say that stripping wallpaper is #worstjobever and took well into the wee hours of the morning. Saturday I shopped for shower curtain, etc. so I could select wall color. I found a great rug and wall art at HomeGoods (LOVE that store) 

I based my wall colors on the painting and rug and then found shower curtain and valance. Thanks Target and HomeGoods. They are my favorite places to shop. 

While at HomeGoods I also found a mirror to replace the old fashioned wall mirror 

that is typical in most bathrooms.

Found light fixture at HomeGoods and installed it myself. SUPER easy DIY!

Added some accents from HomeGoods and Marshalls and I am 

very happy with an easy, inexpensive update. I will have to look through old photos 

to see if I have any shots of the old bathroom decor that I can scan in. 

For now you will just have to believe me that it was terribly in need of an update. 

I've been a crafting maniac getting ready for the holidays. I have a few little craft shows that I'm doing plus the gifts I want to make. I'll post pics of the things as I complete them.

 Snowmen from old socks and baby socks.

BOOGIE MONSTERS!!! 

Once people see that they are for holding tissues, they always exclaim 

"Oh I get it , so funny!"

Paper Clip Cuties

The Nursery

I spent most of August getting my grandson's nursery ready. We went with the nautical theme that I had used for the baby shower. I picked the paint colors and his terrific daddy did the painting and didn't grumble too much when I asked for stripes!! I had fun finding or making the little things to decorate the room. My hubby bought me a sewing machine last Christmas and I have had such fun learning how to make things. I made the valence for the nursery, my first REAL sewing project.

IT FIT!!!

 I scoured Craigslist and found REAL wood furniture for very little money. I sanded and painted the bookshelf and put a chevron fabric on the backboard.

 This changing table was that lovely old blond wood color. The white paint made such a difference.

 This was the best deal $15 and its solid wood. Just sanded and painted and its the perfect size.

 Made his name plaque and decided to hang it on a curtain rod instead of trying to make 

sure the nails were hammered in a straight line.

 I made the bumpers and a good friend crocheted the beautiful afghan.

 Some of my fun little chachkes.