One man's junk...

Is this girl's treasure!

An office was throwing out these old, dirty, falling apart chairs.

I could see why, they were pretty narsty!


I could also see that they had great lines for simple slipcovers.

They now sit at the heads of my table.

They would even work well enough to use as extra seating without being obvious dining chairs.

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Bedside table.

Since re-doing my bedroom I've had bedroom furniture on my radar. I'm on a scrawny budget so I'm on the lookout for inexpensive furniture or anything I can makeover. I came across this somewhere and stored it in the back of my mind. Then I couldn't find it again so googled "IKEA Dresser Makeover" and found it! See the full story here at Curbly.com.

I was so inspired by this makeover that I persuaded my family to make the 1 1/2 hour trek with me to IKEA to pick up two Rast Tables. When we got there and saw them in person the scale was much smaller than I anticipated. Just not right for the room. Darn.

Nonetheless, I'm inspired and still on the hunt for any thrift store find that I can makeover.

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Silver or white?

I posted about these old lamps my mom gave me for my birthday a while back.

Here they are again.

While at Home Depot, this can of metallic spray paint caught my eye.

Here are the results. I thought it would turn out more reflective like the lid of the can.

I sprayed the other lamp with plain old white.

Results:

Now your input...

Which do you like better?

Silver or white?

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What to do with old maps?

Decorating with maps has become really popular these days.

I decided to cover some books with old maps for my sons room.

Fold the overhang over the inside covers.

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My dirty little decorating secret...

If you knew me you'd know that I ltake great pride in the way my house looks, I like to be organized and I'm down right fussy about decor.

Prepare yourselves, I'm about to reveal my dirty little decorating seceret...my bedroom.

This lovely quilt screams style, doesn't it? I put it on the bed after my boys jumped on my lovely white comforter with dirty feet. And can you believe...NO BED SKIRT! GASP! That's been on my to-do list ever since we moved in the house 2 years ago (actually, decorating this entire room has been on my to-do list for the past 2 years).

And yes, a crib in the corner. In my defense, my youngest was still a wee newborn when we first moved in and walking to the other side of the house 15 times in the middle of the night wasn't gonna happen.

Don't you love my in-genius tv stand? It's two night stands stacked on top of the other.

Hi neighbor! I see you peeking at me from your side of the wall. Got to love modern day builders...they really know how to build a house for privacy!

I'm starting to re-think this post about now.

Toys, the coffee table that I grew up with and just can't bear to part with, clutter...this room has it all!
Those are two paint samples on the wall that I was testing out for the room.

The changing table tucked nicely in the corner.

OK, so this room is not bad but it's certainly not on the house tour I give my guests.

This master bedroom has been a catch-all for everything in the house. When you're a mom sometimes things have to be all about function for a while. Plus, Arizona homes have no basements so where do you put all your junk?

Now that I've confessed my least desirable decorating sin I'm ready for change. And change is COMING! We've already cleared the entire room, bought some paint samples, put a few items on Craigslist and we're ready for a homemade Extreme Home (room) Makeover. I've sweet talked my honey and he's ready to tackle this project with me. That was exhausting, now I'm off to bed (which is now sitting directly in the middle of my bare room).

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Lamp love.

Jake and I just returned from a three day spiritual feeding at his annual LDS conference for husbands and wives. It was wonderful. My mom was so generous as to watch my two boys, spoil them, let them eat junk food to their hearts content...all that grandma stuff. She brought me a belated birthday gift that I couldn't be more excited about. I grew up with these lamps in her house...and now they're mine to hopefully work a little magic on.

Here are a few inspirational pictures of lamps I've found on the internet to get my creative juices flowing. Aaahhh...the possibilities.
Kate Spade

Penny Wincer

Thomas Paul

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Boys' room makeover.

I posted a couple months ago about my efforts to makover the boys' room. I'm finished. Both our boys have names that have to do with the wind and water so I picked pieces that had a nautical / ocean theme. Thanks again Tim for cutting these shelves down! Can't forget a place for the bouncy ball collection.
Found these rocks on the beach in San Diego.

I was trying to make these numbers look like the numbers printed on a big spinaker sail. 4 represents the the year my oldest was born. 7 the year my youngest was born.

This burlap potato sack has nothing to do with the water. It's the other side of the burlap I cut up and used for that fancy frame project I did. It had the right colors that coordinated with the rest of the room so I covered it with an old bulletin board.

I found this book/magazine shelf for $12.00 at an estate sale a few months ago and it was already fire engine red.

Can't forget about my DIY headboards!

My boys picked out things that were full of bright, bold color...something that I'm not very comfortable decorating with. But it's their space so bring on the color. The room is small but has a really nice feel. We're all happy!

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DIY Upholstered Headboards

Remember when I posted about my ambitious plans to makeover my boys' room? Well, I'm 99% done with the room. The most time consuming project ended up to be the DIY upholstered headboards (which could have been really simple had I not tried to attempt a Martha Stewart moment). Here's how it all went down...

I first bought a piece of 1/2-inch plywood. Home Depot cut it down to my specifications for free. (Next time I would choose a more organic and "green" wood. The glues used on the plywood have a bit of an odor). For the width I went an inch wider than the width of the bed.

I then bought a piece of 3/4-inch high density foam and cut it (electric knife works best) to the measurements of my board. I used a spray glue adhesive to secure it to the board.

Next, I covered the board and foam with a couple of layers of batting. I cut it a couple inches longer on each side, pulled it taut, and used a staple gun to secure it to the other side of the board.
You can see here that I attatched 1X4 legs to the back of my board so that it would stand tall against the wall. (I ended up taking the legs off because it stood too tall for my liking).
Here's where it got time consuming. I covered a piece of cord with burnt orange fabric and sewed it around the edges of my fabric. I thought, "It's all straight lines...how hard can it be?" I'd never done this before but the sweet lady at the fabric store assured me it was a piece of cake. Our definitions of "a piece of cake" were obviously different. It took me literally HOURS! Cut on the bias here, zipper foot there, 5th broken needle here... If I would have skipped the whole piping trim I would not have needed to sew at all and it really would have been a piece of cake DIY project. FYI.

Whether you decide to fancy it up or not, pull your fabric taut and staple it to the other side (just like you did with the batting).

Here's the finished result. What do you think? Complete room pics coming tomorrow.

(Fabric is Raulph Lauren found at Home Fabrics in Tucson).

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