This is the project that never ends.

I'm going to be painting my attic till I die.

I usually don't mind painting, but this is one project that just seems to be going on forever. It's complicated because it's not just nice flat walls I'm slapping paint on. It's boards and grooves and angles and it's really, really dark wood.

Maybe I see a light at the end of the tunnel, but mostly I have that oh-good-grief-I-am-so-over-this-crap stage.

But it needs to get done, the sooner the better, so we can move our homeschool station up there.

Looking at these photos though, I'm encouraged. It's come a long way and we're in the home stretch.

Not very long ago, it was full of crap. Then lots of purging happened.

The difference is crazy. Everything feels bigger and brighter.

Here you can clearly see the difference. L-R: Paint, primer, and original wall

As far as inspiration for this little space goes, I'm going to have to be creative. We're going from a bedroom sized school room with lots of wall space and storage to a nook sized school room with mostly angled walls. My goal is to make it snug, but not cluttered feeling. Here's some things I've pinned on the subject:

Source: Pinterest

Gonna try and find some narrow tables for the boys to work on since their desks would swallow up too much space.
Source: Woman's Day

I'll need streamlined filing and organization systems like this.
Source: Better Homes & Gardens

I think this is the light that we'll hang over the stairs. It's cheap, but I chose it because it has the longest cord I could find. The plan is to hardwire it where that ugly little round light is and then dangle it over the stairs. This one's from Lowe's. There were also a few on Home Depot I really liked.


I've been working on the laundry room too. Hopefully I'll have an update on that soon!

The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly

Not a whole lot in this post will be considered "eye candy", but before there can be beauty, there must be horrible, disgusting grossness to inspire us to blow torch the ugly and create the beauty.

And this is definitely grossness.

In our basement, we have a laundry room/bathroom that we have lovingly dubbed "the truck stop bathroom". Throughout the years, I have hated even entering that room, let alone using it. The only time we have ever used the bathroom part of it is when we have been working on our main bathroom. Well, the boys DO use the toilet when they're playing down there (and of course, forget to flush it, so I discover it months later, which only adds to the complete disgustingness of the room.)

This could be one of the reasons I have forever been behind on laundry.

Well, our ancient washer died (may it rest in peace), which forced us to consider a redo. A complete redo. Flooring, paint, storage, sink.

First the bad--this is the room before we touched it, other than to clear it out:

Guh-ross. Mold, mildew, and evil spirits reside here.

Seth tore out the floor and then basically doused the entire room in bleach. Firefighting breathing masks came in handy here.

This is how Seth looks when he's in "Seth-Smash" mode.

So, it was no longer bad, but it's still ugly:

No more mold or evil spirits. But it still has a long way to go.


And then, we let the first taste of good in:

I love these machines. So very thankful for them. We were already researching online the new model of this washer, and it got really good reviews. I happened to see both the washer and dryer listed on craigslist--only a year old, for less than the price of the new washer. Turns out, this couple was moving overseas and the appliances were in mint condition. We snatched them up. They have been a HUGE blessing and the nicest appliances I have ever owned. I like doing laundry now. I never thought I would utter those words.

I can only imagine how much I'll like it once the room gets gussied up. I'm thinking something like this for the floors--I love how it looks like wood but the vinyl is perfect for a moist basement. Everyone we talk to recommends them. And I need to pick a paint color. Stay tuned.

Top Chef

Thanks to Pinterest, I was inspired to do some DIY gifts this year at Christmas. The first was a little play kitchen for Homegirl. I'm not very crafty, but sifting through ideas on Pinterest made me imagine that I could be. Pinterest is hypnotic that way.

These were some beauties that stuck out to me:

By All My Little Gems

By The Ordinary Beautiful

By The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking

There are also some bigger versions out there using old entertainment centers. I really love them, because you can make an entire kitchen, complete with a window, with one piece. But they aren't ideal for a short one year old. So for our first go at it, we opted for a small piece.

I picked up this little cabinet on wheels at Goodwill for $7. After a good cleaning and tightening everything up, I gave it a couple coats of paint.

The color is "Azure Snow", a really pale gray blue. This was great paint. It went on really well and hardly smelled at all. I plan to use it on some other pieces in her room.

We also added some stove knobs that I found for a few bucks on Amazon and painted on burners. For the sink, I used an old dog bowl we had (because our dog prefers to eat his food straight from the floor...weirdo). I completed it with a set of pots and pans from Ikea that look real, since she prefers to play with things that don't look like toys. She's a rebel, that one.

So, at this point, we have this:

Is it perfect? Of course not. You know better than that. Also, it's not finished either, 'cause that's how we do. But thankfully, one year olds don't care if things are perfect on Christmas morning. She loves it. She wiggles the knobs and bangs the pans, but her favorite things are sitting on the stove and spitting in the sink. Just a delicate flower, that one.

We talked about adding an oven, which may happen. I also need to find something to work as a faucet, and perhaps adding a back to it. Maybe a pretty little curtain.

Or maybe we'll just talk about doing those things but never do them. Entirely possible.

                                        

                           

Let's Do This

I'm excited about 2013.

Seth and I have a plan. And as much as we realize that when we make plans, there's a good chance life will throw us a curve ball, we still think it's important to have a goal. Generally speaking, our goal is to fix up as much as we can this year so that, hopefully, in 2014, we can put it on the market. It's daunting, but at the same time, both of us feel like there's a very good chance we can accomplish a lot this year. Maybe we'll fail miserably, but optimism is a nice feeling.

So, with that in mind, I'm trying to make decisions based on what would appeal to a prospective buyer, not necessarily what I would prefer. That means purging stuff, making it feel like there's lots of space, tons of storage, and a good flow. I'm also starting to think I have to change my mind about how I use certain spaces. For instance, I LOVE having a homeschool room. It has been a lifesaver for me. Everything we need is in one room, and I can shut the door when the clutter gets crazy. However, to keep that room just for homeschool, it would mean Homegirl has to move upstairs into the boys' room, on the end of the attic where it doesn't really feel like a bed there would make sense. So, much to my chagrin (and probably my husband's annoyance, since he just recently built me tons of shelves in the school room closet), I'm thinking I'll have to swap the spaces. It will be nice for Homegirl to have her own room, because I'm not comfortable with her sleeping near the stairs or with the likelihood that the three of them would greatly disturb each other's sleep patterns if they were all together. And I'll have to reorganize our school stuff so we have only the necessary stuff for the smaller space. But we'll figure something out.

Sorry, honey. I'm nothing if I'm not indecisive.

During the first week of the year, I've been trying to do small projects to get me started. I purged and REALLY scrubbed every inch of our bathroom. The shower area is on the list of things to accomplish this year. I also tackled the little storage closet in our hallway.

What began as this:

Went to this:

And eventually to this:

With the help of my trusty assistant:

It may be hard to tell from the pictures, but I threw a ton away and got things cleaned and organized. I'm thinking about painting the inside a pretty color or maybe laying down some shelf paper. We shall see.

I'm considering tackling the kitchen today and purging things. I want to keep spaces as clean and organized as possible, so that when it comes time to jump on a project, it will be that much easier.

Our first big project of the year was decided for us by our ancient washing machine and its sudden death. We figure if we're replacing it and the dryer, we might as well finish off that space. It's nice because it's not going to be a huge or expensive project (other than the appliances). It will take lots of elbow grease, some paint, and some inexpensive flooring. It's a good place to start. I'll be updating you on the process.

I should also have a post coming soon about the DIY gifts we made for the kiddos for Christmas. We're really pleased with them and the kids are loving them. I just need to take some pictures of them for ya.

So to sum up, hopefully this blog will be much busier over 2013. :)