Floating Isn't Floating Anymore

We have floating shelves in our kids' rooms to display their collectibles. I don't know what it is about the floating shelf, but it makes me a little nervous. It's just hanging there. Floating.

We had floating shelves in our bathroom, but they weren't floating quite right. There was a gap at the top and they leaned forward. Bothered me every time I walked in the bathroom. I dealt with it for about one week.

Then I bought black iron brackets at Ikea and placed them as supports under the shelves. Actually Hubby and I did, and we didn't even attach them to the shelves. We just left the shelves attached to the walls as they were and attached the brackets to the wall for support of the shelves. Worked like a charm.

So when Sparky told me that 'Big Derek' almost hit her on the head the other night, and when she started placing things back up and they were sliding off, I knew we had a problem.

These are her hanging shelves right after we finished painting her room a couple of weeks ago.

You can tell the left one is slightly droopy. I had already taken the wall bracket down, redrilled holes, and put in new anchors. I think the bracket had bent a little and that was the problem. It started pulling away from the wall again. (I usually don't take the brackets down when I paint the walls. I just paint around them with the knowledge that if and when I take them down, I'll have to do some work on that area. I'd have holes to plug up anyway.)

I had four more of the black brackets from Ikea that I planned on using for another shelf in our mudroom area that I've never put up. Sparky and I decided that was the best option for her shelves, because she didn't want to lose those green shelves.

It works and it matches the black bed. If and when we ever take those down, there are a lot of holes in that wall, and they all have brackets in them!

Tour The Rooms — Buddy's Room

We (as in Hubby and I) bred a sports lover. It's evident in his room.

When we refer to his room with other people, we say, "It's the one with the big men on the wall at the top of the stairs."

Buddy loves red. If we'd let him have his walls red, he would have. But with the red shelves it would be just too much.

So we picked a green that reminds us of the Green Monster at Fenway Park. It's by Behr and is called Vineyard.

This is the view when you walk in the room. The denim curtain panels I recycled from old bed skirts here.

You can see all the card collecting he does. He's been at it now for just over seven years. It's even how he learned to alphabetize.

Standing in front of the window looking back toward the door wall, this is the view:

I guess we should say, "Big men on the wall and tiny men on the shelves," when we are referring to his room.

And here is a better look at the bed wall:

I just got the duvet cover at Ikea last week. Buddy had been using his duvet with no cover on it for a year. We just hadn't been able to find anything we liked. Ikea finally had a few new patterns, and this one seemed to work.

The funny thing is that Hubby brought Buddy a new pair of Razorback pajama pants home from his trip last week. They are plaid and almost match the pattern and color perfectly. We told him when he wears them he'll be camouflaged and we won't be able to find him!

I guess it would work during a game of hide and seek!

The red wall shelves and shelving units are from Ikea.

Tour The Rooms — Sparky's Room

This is the color that I thought I would be painting either my living room or my bedroom. I happened to have the swatch card and it's the one that Sparky picked! I wouldn't let her do the glowing lime green like the bathroom.

She's very happy with it and thinks it brings out the green she has in the room nicely.

This is the view when you walk in her room out the front windows of the house. (None of our bedrooms are on the first floor.) Her room is slightly recessed from the doorway.

She painted the picture on the wall between the windows when she was eight years old. There was an older couple in Illinois from our church that were good friends of ours, and he taught her how to paint. She has some natural artistic ability.

This is the view to the left.

We (as in I) just hung that mirror after we got done painting. I found it for half price at Hobby Lobby about a month ago and knew it would be perfect for that spot. She has trouble getting to a mirror in the bathroom occasionally when everyone is getting ready at the same time. I couldn't hang it too high or she wouldn't be able to see in it.

This is the view to the right from the door.

She definitely has some green in here!

Her bed, nightstands, green shelves, and red dressers are all from Ikea.

Her paint color is Cloudy Day by Behr. I have a lighter color of blue for my room, but if I don't like it, I'm going with this one.

Bathrooms RevealedAlternately Titled: How To Not Paint Your Kitchen

I am totally the queen of starting a project in one place and having it run rampant into other places.

I decided the week of October 11th (when Sparky was in Bolivia and Hubby was in El Paso or Washington, D.C., I forget which) would be a good time to paint the kitchen.

We'd already painted the living room. Other than me painting the mud room and powder room, we still had builder beige throughout our house. We've been here almost two years.

In picking a color, I had to make sure it matched with the back splash we put up. It needed to look nice with the bold living room color. It also needed to have the same undertones as the carpet and the fireplace tile in the living room.

I also started thinking ahead to the common hallways and what color they would be, so that all the colors would look good as a group since it's fairly open everywhere on the first floor. I planned to use the color I picked for the first floor hallways in all the stairways and hallways throughout the house, so that was in the back of my mind in the thought process.

I had tentatively picked out a color for our master bathroom and had the color card for it. I decided that it would also be a good color for the kitchen. I picked a color that was only one shade lighter for the hallways. I decided the color for the kitchen and master bathroom would also be a good color choice for the second floor loft.

I went to Home Depot and purchased paint in the right types for the areas I was going to paint. I got the sample of the bright green to test in the bathroom then.

I started painting the hallways on the first floor. That was what was different in this post! Also the fringe on the curtain was added.

I went to the second floor and did the hallway. There's not much common hallway on the second floor since the large area is the loft.

When I switched colors and started painting the loft, I decided to move the desk with the computer into the rec room. It's an 'L'-shaped desk on a shelving unit from Ikea. The desk had to be taken off, so since I was moving things around in the rec room and putting the desk back together, I decided I'd go ahead and paint that room too. You know, save some steps for later.

So it was back to Home Depot to pick a color. Buddy wants everything red, which wasn't an option, orange wouldn't work, I couldn't do green or I'd look green all the time, yellow and purple are automatically not considered in our house (sorry if you love those colors), and neutral was out because Buddy wanted 'color' in the room. Blue, my favorite color, was the choice, so we picked one that both boys and I could agree on. I'll show you that room in a different post.

That trip to Home Depot I also got the green paint in the right type for a bathroom, and I purchased a bright white for the ceiling and for all of Chatty's bathroom.

After I had the green paint up, I had a guy come by and do some repair work on a spot on the wall that had gotten wet, he caulked the dickens out of both bathrooms, and I had him go ahead and paint both ceilings and Chatty's bathroom walls. He also put up new light fixtures.

Here is the bathroom that Sparky, Buddy, and Caboose share.

When the door is shut with the light on inside, you can see green glowing from underneath. Still.

Here is Chatty's bathroom after it was finished.

The kitchen (my original project) and master bathroom are still not painted.

This post is linked to Metamorphosis Monday at Naps on the Porch and Show Us Your Life - Bathrooms at Kelly's Korner.

Organization — Laundry Room

Technically it might be a reorganization since we've lived here ten months now, but if I never actually organized it in the first place and it just sort of happened, am I really reorganizing it, or just finally organizing it? Rhetorical...no need to answer.

You might remember I mentioned in my Pantry Overhaul post that when I work in one area it usually ends up affecting another area as well. This one was no exception and ended up causing changes to happen in the front coat closet.

There is a door that separates the laundry room and the walk-in closet from the rest of the house. This is the back side of it that I showed you when I did the pantry post, totally unrelated to the pantry and obviously the items that got organized as a bonus.

On the wall to the right I have a utility sink, my washer, and my dryer. I am standing with my back to a window and to my immediate left is an open doorway to a large walk-in closet. You also would have seen this in my pantry reorganization post. I was using the tops of the shelving, and you'll notice that at the very bottom of the picture that we had coats hanging on this side of the 'L.'

I've always used the other side of the closet to hang up the clothes when they come out of the dryer before they get taken upstairs. My coats and Hubby's coats hung in this closet, and the kids' coats and jackets hung in the front coat closet.

To make this makeover work, I had to move our coats out of this closet. I decided that our coats would now hang in the front coat closet and the kids could keep theirs in their closets.

I moved one of our adjustable-height tables in from the garage and kept it at the lowest setting. I hung all of the extra hangers up on the now-empty rod.

I have desperately been needing a folding surface. You know why? Because laundry baskets are a really bad idea in most cases. Until we were in the apartment here in Michigan (waiting for our house to get finished) I hadn't had a laundry basket for probably 8-10 years. My laundry areas were in the hall central to the rest of the house, and in Virginia it was in the kitchen. I had to fold and put away immediately. Now I need the large laundry baskets just to move the laundry to the second floor.

The problem was that I would throw all the towels, underwear, and socks in there and then not fold them for a long time. They would sit in my bedroom floor waiting. I needed to fold everything as soon as it came out of the dryer. I also needed to sort it downstairs rather than have piles all over my bedroom waiting to be sorted out for all the kids.

Tonight I didn't have much to fold, but I'll show you how it's going to work since I've done a few of these things before. Here I had folded all the towels except for the load that wasn't done in the dryer. In the interest of not causing life-long embarrassment to my kids, I waited to fold their underwear and socks until I took the picture.

After I have folded everything into stacks on the table, I'll put the kids' things into their own Sterilite basket. Even when I didn't have laundry baskets I used to do this at the dryer, but for some reason I haven't been here. I need to find a basket of some kind around the house that I'm not using to keep here for the lonely socks until their mates show up.

When I'm folding and I don't need the baskets over at the table yet I'll keep them stacked over on the dryer. I tidied it up so they'll fit nicely.

That clear basket holds my mesh laundry bags for delicates.

I've been mulling different ideas around in my head for a while, so I definitely think this will work for me. I'm pleased with the outcome. I know I'll be glad not to have laundry piled up in my bedroom, clean or not.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Labor Day weekend!

What's Old is New Again

I had this picture hanging in my room when I was growing up. It was one of the few things that I owned that was personalized. Anything personalized with my name was guaranteed to have been special ordered.

My mom gave this to me, probably when she was cleaning stuff out, back at least by 2001. I know that because it was living in my garage in Illinois. It was in the most putrid mintish pastel green frame. I went and found the coordinate code for the Crayola color 'magic mint' which appears to be about the right color and put it in for those words. I hope it comes out right so you can see what I mean.

The reason I dislike this color so much is that I can't wear it. If I do, I look that color. It's not pretty at all. When I'm looking at a rack of clothes, it doesn't matter if I see something that I absolutely love, if it's that color, I go right past it. It never touches my body any more. I don't even wear pajamas or have bedding that color. It's that bad.

Well, this post was about a picture, so here it is in the original form, mostly. I think I'd started working a little on the blue and brighter pink before I took this picture.

It appeared to have been done with some type of markers. We had a box of Prismacolor pencils from art classes a few years ago, so I pulled those out and a sharpener and got to work.

I did try to go along with the original color plan when I was coloring it in. A few of them were seriously faded, so I kind of guessed as to exactly what I thought they were.

The original paper is mottled except for the places where it had been taped onto some cardboard with masking tape. There it is white, of all things! I would have thought it would have been more orange than the rest of the paper.

I got a black frame on sale at Michael's to finish it off and make it stand out. And here it is in my 'hangout' area.

My scrapbooking area. I wielded the drill again tonight and hung up the black shelf which matches the ones in the kids' bathrooms and the first floor powder room/half bath. I haven't completely finished deciding how I'm going to use it yet.

Here's what it looks like a little farther down the wall. I also still haven't decorated those boards.

Here are two cat postcards that I just love and had framed 20 years ago. Man, I'm old!

They live on the little wall over by the other cubbie shelf that also houses the television.

I was especially happy with my little 'hangout' picture. I didn't really ever think it would see a wall in my home again, between looking bad, being in a putrid frame, and frankly, looking somewhat childish. I think it's kind of fun and in a good spot for what it is. I'll take it down when I'm 98.

Somebody please remind me.

I Caved

I really was going to live with those pictures over my bed and be happy with them. I was convinced I could do it. But I was wrong.

I did not want to spend a lot of money matting or special framing these little prints, even thought they are really nice. I think that's why I was trying to convince myself they were okay.

Friday, following the goose incident and an unplanned trip to the Chevrolet body shop, I caved in and went by Michael's just to see what they had in the way of frames with mats already included. I would need 11 x 14 frames with 8 x 10 mats.

You know what I didn't know...Michael's sells a pretty nice little selection of pre-cut standard-sized mats, and some of them are even double mats. I found three black ones with the white cut marks showing for a little accent color, and three larger frames on sale (I love Michael's sales).

You saw the two before pictures, now here are the two after pictures:

They are so much better.

As for the questions the other day, the light will hang from the middle of the bedroom ceiling, and I plan on white cotton panels on black iron rods.

Tour The House — The Master Bedroom (My Other Favorite Room)

Welcome to Builder Beige! We're glad to see you again.

I sure wish I had this room painted. At least I know what color I want to paint it...a really nice light blue.

Guess what else. Standard light fixtures reign here, too. I think I've picked what I want here though, which is better than most other rooms.

What do you think?

Maybe I should show you the room first before I ask you that. I'll start at the door and do something of a panorama.

That's the bathroom door you see over there.

I was standing over in the corner by the glass-door bookshelf when I took this picture of the dresser. The bedroom door where I started is just to the left of the dresser.

The little black round tables I knew I wanted all along instead of the standard nightstands. I got these at Target, and that's where I got the lamps and shades, too.

So for some details now. The cross-stitch on the chest of drawers is the first one I ever attempted on linen. It's counted cross-stitch and from a kit. I altered it slightly because I didn't put a square border around it that was on the original pattern. I don't use a hoop when I cross-stitch on Aida or evenweave cloth; I just hold it in my hands. I purchased a special lap stand when I did this piece to hold the linen taut. I've used it several times since then and love it for uneven weaves.

We just hung the pictures over our bed two nights ago. I'm not totally convinced they are the best thing for over the bed, but I'm okay with them for now. My main concern is if they are big enough. Of course I don't have any window treatments up, so that would change the whole look. I might get some large black grosgrain ribbon, hot glue it to the back of the frames and pretend that they are each hanging from a knob on the wall. That will give them a little more presence. These pictures are all historic buildings from Colonial Williamsburg.

When we went for our first big Ikea trip in November, the one where we pulled the trailer, we found that glass-front bookcase on clearance. We weren't specifically looking for one, but at our house we can always use bookcases, and I'll just tell you right now that all of them are pretty much full, so it was a good call.

When we got it, we weren't totally sure where it was going. We thought it might go in our room right where it ended up, but we also thought it might be going right outside our room in what's called the second floor loft. We tried it in our room first and loved it there, so it stayed.

When we decided to buy the bookcase, even though we weren't sure where it was going, I knew that some of my very favorite books were going to be the ones that took up permanent residence inside. The whole thing doesn't photograph as pretty as it really is in person.

Leather-bound Lamplighter books.

Vintage Nancy Drew.

Also by Carolyn Keene, vintage Dana Girls.

When Monica visited in December and we spent our fun-filled day at Ikea, one of my goals was to find something for our TV to sit on in our bedroom. At the time it was sitting on the corner of our dresser, but it really didn't look good. It also needed to be on something taller since our furniture is rather large. There was a matching piece to the clearance bookcase that fit the bill perfectly, and now it is nestled in the corner. You'll have to go back and look at the picture at the top though.

The other thing I had been looking for for months was a duvet cover. I have never had such trouble finding something that seemed so simple, but then when you have in your mind exactly what you want it is always harder to find it.

All I wanted was a simple white cotton duvet cover. It needed to be in a higher thread count so it would be soft, not sateen and shiny, not the kind with tone-on-tone stripes, and no block pattern in another color around it. I also wanted it to have a slightly 'messy' look, kind of comfortable-ish and not all fixed and fussy. Finally I found one at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and not only did I find white, I found a khaki and very light blue on sale...in my size, king! I've had the white on my bed until about a week ago when I changed from my 4-weight duvet to my 2-weight duvet and decided to go with the light blue. I think I'll do khaki in the fall. Or when I get bored.

My queen-sized pillows still look a little scrawny though. I might have to get some bigger ones...a little at a time.

This is the only bedroom furniture we've had since we've been married other than our original bedroom set. That last box I unpacked had some pictures of our first apartment and our bedroom furniture, so I scanned them so you could see.

We didn't even have this footboard for the last two or three moves since the movers broke the side pieces. We had been using a metal bed frame and attaching it to the headboard, and the last move we had to use bungee cords to help hold it on. We're talking a lot of moves after 23 years of marriage.

We sold the dresser and chest of drawers at our yard sale before we left Virginia. The nightstand we hadn't had for several moves either because we didn't have room for it.

The one thing I said I refused to do when we finally had room was to not put things under our beds anymore. Sometimes it's the little things I am so thankful for.

So, what do you think about the light choice for the ceiling?