The finished toy closet in our basement is being fully enjoyed on a daily basis. I promised that I would share my toy closet sources to show how easy a closet like this is to put together. The closet is versatile enough that the look could be used in an office, bedroom, craft room, pantry, bathroom or laundry room. I could easily keep the look of this closet but change the contents. I’m just assuming that my boys will eventually grow out of Lego’s. I think. For now it is just for toys so I wanted it to be durable and easy for my children to find what they need. I did not want a bunch of primary colored storage that would look childish or outdated quickly. I chose some pieces from IKEA, The Container Store, Target and HomeGoods to store everything. If I ever want to change anything around…
Read MoreA couple of months ago I purchased the Hemnes secretary desk from IKEA as my workspace. I needed a desk, storage, a place for a printer and plenty of room for ideas. This desk handled all of it. I can easily work in the living room and then pack “my office” up by simply closing the doors. Plenty of shelves and space for all my needs. Since it is sitting in my living room I felt that it needed to be dressed up a bit. I looked around and started up a office desk Pinterest board to get all my ideas in one place. Since I kept pinning desks with fretwork and mirrors I knew that a DIY mirrored secretary desk was the direction I was headed. It has a timeless look to it without being “too much.” I just needed to figure out how to do it. The plan was…
Read MoreThe finishing touches have finally been made on the toy closet downstairs in the basement and it is so nice to have a functioning toy closet once again. Since I painted my walls a dark blue (not too dark though) using Behr Paint’s Velvet Rope I wanted all my storage in the closet to be white or neutral. I’ll give you a source list soon. Today is purely show and tell. I went back and forth on what to do for shelving. I considered building shelves and installing them with cleats. I already had the hanging system and just reusing it with new shelves would save a bit of money. I decided on the original hanging system, but painted the mounting strips to hide them a bit. This way you wouldn’t see strips of white breaking up the blue. I purchased new 18 inch deep melamine shelves and had them…
Read MoreSince this basement remodel was our second go-round at finishing the space I was really interested in cutting corners on the remodel budget. One of the ways I did that was by taking on some of the jobs that the contractor did last time. One example was putting together the IKEA pieces that comprised the built it. Last time the contractors team did it. This time me and my handy helpers did. Another way to cut some corners was in painting. Last time the contractor did all of it. This time I had him spray everything that was white, as in the trim, built-in, moldings and faux board and batten. I was left with the rest. This includes all the closet interiors, the space on the wall above the board and batten as well as the entire laundry room. Needless to say I have not gotten around to most of it so…
Read MoreAfter this long harsh winter here in the Boston area we are all desperately ready for spring. It is taking its’ own sweet time since it was snowing a bit this weekend. I’d like to think that was just an early April Fool’s Day joke. Regardless there is stil sporadic spots of snow on the ground that don’t feel very “spring-like” to me. Little steps around the house always help at this time of year. Fresh flowers on the mantle, a new doormat outside the front door and of course something on the front door to welcome Spring. Since all my seasonal decorations were stored in the basement and lost in the flood I got to start over this year. Instead of the typical floral wreath on the door I went for something a bit out of the box, a flower garland on the front door. I saw these paper garlands…
Read MoreSo the sofa debate was finally settled and decided on and we chose a sectional sofa in the family room…. It is the Alex Sofa from Basset Furniture. At 93 inches by 90 inches it nestles right in between the pole and the wall. It is definitely a smaller scale sectional but for some reason the room feels bigger now! We had it upholstered in a woven polyester of dark gray/beige called Driftwood. It came out much more beige than gray but it hides everything and is easy to keep clean. The sofa came with three accent pillows in the fabric of my choice. I went with a pattern called Tangerine. I then picked up some accent pillows at IKEA in teal and orange to add some more color. The striped fabric in the photo was used for the storage ottoman. Once it came home I decided it was too nice to hide down…
Read MoreTelling you that my home is overrun by Lego’s is an understatement. We have graduated from the random collection of primary colored Lego’s to the more intricate sets with smaller pieces and instruction booklets. Lego storage for all those little pieces has become a necessity. We are in trouble if one of those pieces go missing because according to an 8 year old and a 6 year old the whole thing can never be put together again. Just because mom went and searched the stash and found a similarly shaped pink piece where the light gray piece was supposed to go doesn’t mean it can be used. So I came up with a way to corral those special pieces and keep them out in the open at the same time. A lot of the Lego action happens either at the kitchen table or the living room rug. I purchased some carton…
Read MoreI’ve always had a problem with closets as my mother reminded me this week. As a child one of my weekly chores was to clean out my closet. Weekly. I would just thrown things in there until I had created such chaos that I had no idea what was in there any more. A big empty space at the bottom of a closet is just another dumping ground for me. Case in point is my front hall closet. It had recently taken on a life of its’ own, and not in a good way. It is used daily since this is where my kids put their backpacks. The vacuum cleaner is kept in there as well. Besides those items I can honesty say who knows what else is in there. It is full though since most days the door is pushed shut until it clicks. If it doesn’t click shut it stays slightly open…
Read MoreThe last time I showed any pictures of the my boys shared bedroom it looked like this… A year later and we have made some changes. Our bunk beds that my father made have the option of being two single twin beds or bunk beds. With the boys now being old enough to handle bunk beds we decided to do that. This actually happened at the end of the summer. Lots of discussing, rule making and reiterating that if anyone decided to jump off the beds we would be unbunking them. So far so good. The 8 year old has the top bunk and the 6 year old has the bottom bunk. He hasn’t even asked to be on the top bunk yet. Although I’d love to take a glamorous shot of the bunk beds I’d rather show you that I do have a guard rail. Any solutions for a prettier version would…
Read MoreAre you ever looking for some good ideas, tips, tricks and more? Do you have any questions about design or decor in your home? Hometalk is a home improvement, gardening and DIY network where you can share ideas, ask questions and get inspiration. I have a lot of my own projects on there as well. Hometalk recently asked me to curate a collection of curtain hanging tips. Stop by and take a look!
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