Ottoman Makeover

A couple years ago, I picked up two of the most basic of ottomans from IKEA.  With hopes and dreams of making amazing covers for them, I did manage to make a somewhat decent cover for one, while the other was left to rest naked in the basement.

 

 

In February, Cru spent a night very sick with temperatures of over 100 degrees.  That was the night the second ottoman got a second chance.  I ended up sleeping in that chair that night so I asked my husband to bring it up from the basement for me.   I loved it so much, it stayed.  However, it needed some love.

I spent a while mulling over what color/pattern I wanted to cover it in.  Crus room is already so bright with lots of different patterns and textures, I wanted to be careful not to choose something that would compete.  On the easy side, his room also allows for the use of any color.  So that left my pallet with lots of options. I get overwhelmed in fabric stores so I was thrilled to find this fitted sheet in the kids section of IKEA.  The green color is a solid so I knew it wouldn't compete with all the patterns in the space and the green color would pull out the green in some of the art in the room and pull your eye off of the blue and red which has a heavy presence in his room!  For $6 I had my ottoman cover!

 

 

If I wanted to spend the time (which I didn't) I could have cut and sewn it to the perfect size and create an attachment system so I can remove and wash as needed.  Instead I pulled out my staple gun, flipped the thing over, pulled it tight and stapled away!  I was prepared to cut away the extra fabric underneath but was able to just staple it out of sight.  Kind of a ghetto method, but it worked for me and what the eye can see looks great!

 

Here she is!

 

 

I really love the way it looks in Cru's room.  It pulls from the greens in the Vintage Disney attraction posters behind the chair and on his desk.  Easy peasy! 

 

 

Mud Hall Mini Makeover

We don't have room in our house to have an official "Mud Room" so I decided to turn the hallway by the garage and basement door into a "Mud Hall".   I want a place to hang things like dog leashes, kids backpacks, my purse or whatever else might find itself there.

 

We are working with very minimal space but I think it will work perfect for the uses we need.

Here is the space we are working with:

 

You can see the wall through the door opening from the kitchen to the hallway.  Those pictures will be removed and replaced.

Here is the hall view.  The door at the very end of the hall leads out to the garage which is where we go in an out often with the pups.  The hooks will be great for leashes, sweatshirts and whatever else we may need the hooks for...

Here is the function I hope this mini makeover brings to our home.

 

Doggie Station 

The garage is where we enter and exit after trips to the park, potty trips, playing out back, etc. You get my drift.  I want an area with hooks to hang their leashes / collars and chuck it on.

 

Command Center

Right now I have a frame collage going on that I'm not too excited about, but I know I can rework it into something that would be useful to us.  I have 3 matching frames and in them I want to have calendars for the current month and the next two upcoming months.  Our lives are busy and especially with the holidays and bball coming, we can each write what we have going on and be in the know.

 

I will most likely add another chalkboard area. (I know, I have a problem)...

 

and I want to add a couple of these Lidan baskets from IKEA to a hook for Justin to throw his keys, wallet, headphones, whatever.  It can be his place for his things =]

 

Homey Art

I was given an awesome cross stitch of a black lab that I want to hang in this space.  I'm going to revamp the frame situation but I love how it will be an homage to our boys and is a one of a kind piece.  I also want to make some of my own art (via computer) of our house numbers or something.  I also have a wood sign with our last name and EST. 2009 date that I want to hang there. 

 

I got my inspiration from.... PINTEREST!  (I know that is so shocking)... from Jenna Sue's blog which I recently became obsessed with. 

 

 

 

I will play copycat with the moulding and hooks bit and got some ideas to make my own homey art.  We have scrap wood that I can paint and or stain.  Her space is similar to ours with the fact that we really only have wall space to play with.  We don't have room for shoe storage or anything of that sort so everything must go up on the wall.

 

I will need to buy the hooks/baskets, create the art, patch and paint a few screw holes and the project will be super inexpensive with a wonderful result!

 

I also want to get a door mat for the bottom stoop near both the basement and garage doors.  I'm digging both of these from IKEA, the HESSUM and the TRAMPA door mats. The HESSUM (bottom) has a matching runner so that may be another completely necessary purchase. =]

 

I am really hoping to get this done this weekend.  I'm really motivated to get stuff done around the house and I don't want to stop while the momentum is up!

Stay tuned!!



Sticky Steps

 

The stairway by our garage and basement doors were disgusting.  The previous owner had put in a light colored sticky tile linoleum that showed every scratch, piece of dirt... well, everything!

I failed to get a before picture, but we decided to rip up the old and start over in what is the beginning of my "Mud Hall" Mini Makeover...

We started the process by ripping up all the old stick tile, metal corner strip and quarter round that framed the side of the steps.

After that, we measured and leveled the stick tile and set it in place.  We used the level to make sure our cuts were even and straight.  As you can see, I stood on the level to make sure it didn't move.

Teamwork makes the dream work...

 

 

Justin moved along pretty quickly after we got the first step done and we weren't too concerned with the edges since we knew we would be covering them up.

 

Our sweet boys watched us from the hallway. =]

 

 

Here are the steps all finished up without the metal corner strips and quarter round. 

 

 

The next step was to get all the edges covered.  I was torn on what color to choose for the metal strips and wasn't sure if silver or gold would be a better bet.  I thought those two colors were my only options but was super excited to see in store the third option of pewter! I has the perfect bronzy finish that matches the brown in the tiles perfectly!

 

 

After adding white quarter round to the edges, this project is D O N E.  It looks so good and didn't cost much at all. This was about a $50 project and so worth it.  It hides the dust and dirt  and matches our style so much better than the old stuff.

 

 

Like I mentioned earlier, this is the first step for my "Mud Hall" Mini Makeover.  I will give you the deets on the rest of my plans later this week!