Blog – Page 41 – No. 29 Design

we are getting somewhere

As things speed along downstairs I thought I’d give a quick update. Board and batten is up, lights are working, outlets are in, plumbing is connected, in other words, we are almost there. The washer and dryer still have to be hooked up, the baseboard heat needs to be installed, one more doorway has to be removed, and two more recessed lights need to be added in the hallway. After that it is mostly painting, flooring and finishing the woodwork, which includes the built ins we are creating out of some IKEA Hemnes pieces. Here’s the latest…

{recycled} vase

The other day my sister handed me a candlestick that she didn’t know what to do with anymore. She had bought it as part of a pair but one broke. It was hard to find a candle that fit into the center section and looked awkward on its own. I told her I’d see what I could do with it, she know I love a challenge! I looked at it for a couple seconds, flipped it over and saw the hollow bottom. A vase! That’s right, the candlestick sits solidly when turned upside down. It is tall and has a great shape. I bought some painters tape, found some paint samples I had purchased trying to figure out color for my new laundry room, and got to work. First I taped stripes from top to bottom. This was probably the longest part of the whole project. I had to make sure…

spring mantel and a winner

Even though the weather outside isn’t feeling much like spring I decided it is spring in my house. I love buying flowers for my home and one of my favorites are ranunculus. I purchased some for my mantel and added my spring touches. Robins eggs, driftwood and punches of color from the flowers bring that feeling of spring and warmer weather to come inside. On another note, congratulations to… MARIJA the winner of the lovely giveaway from Bluebird Chic. Thank you to all who entered.

boys closet tutorial

A while back I wrote about how I took the doors off to the closet in my boys room and put in an IKEA Expedit. I loved how it all looked except for one thing. Everything I had on the top shelf showed, as did the rod that ran across the entire closet. I needed to keep the rod there because I do hang clothes on either side of the Expedit. I came up with what I would do, a valance inside the closet, but then ran into my second problem, what fabric to use? It took me a week or two but I finally settled on a great fabric that would match what was already in their room. I put together an easy way to hang the valance hanging from cup hooks and curtain rings with clips. I could go with the no sew method I showed you here,…

the magnetic hole in my basement

Since we had to do some plumbing work to add the washing machine and sink in the laundry room we had to expand the existing hole in the cement floor. This hole contained the run off pipes for the house. It was covered by a wooden board which we had put some furniture on top of. Out of sight, out of mind. The “hole” will be hidden within the kids toy closet with a latch to lift it open. For now, it is a wide gaping hole, and for anyone with little kids you know what this means. {via Google} Every time we walk down to the basement to take a look after the workers are gone for the day it is the first place my boys go. They are 5 and 3, and I swear that hole has a magnetic pull. They make a beeline for the hole and…

surviving the mess of construction

{via Google} Although this shot is not of my house, it helps narrate the fact that I’ve come to a couple realizations and decision while we have construction going on. At first the dust and mess bothered me. Even though most of the mess is contained downstairs it does manage to make its way upstairs. Dusty footprints get tracked up the stairway, wayward pieces of wood and nails are gathered by little hands and brought upstairs. I’ve even found some dried, splattered plaster in my boys’ bedroom. Some of this I can control, some I can not. I’ve come to the decision that for now, I will let the house go a little and be okay with it. I won’t go nuts dusting up the fine layer of consturction dust because it just comes back. I will wait till the tools, trucks, and people are gone and then I will…

it's not just the basement that's changing..

Our home is a multi level home and has a unique layout. Walking in the front door you are on the front hall, living room, dining room, kitchen and three season porch level. Six steps up from the front hall are the two children’s bedrooms, the main bathroom, the master bedroom and master bathroom. Six steps down from the front hall are the family room, mudroom/laundry room, and a half bath. The door to the garage is off the mudroom/laundry room. Six steps down from the family room is the basement. We put up walls in the family room and now have a small hallway leading down to the basement. We removed the door to the basement and added a door leading into the “new room.” This new room also has a large walk in closet. new hallway open stairway to basement new room future closet So what exactly is…

eye candy

In looking at different rooms I find I always zero in on the ones with a mix of styles. Usually one of these styles is the Industrial Chic look. The room below is the perfect definition. Pinterest Pieces that look like they have been salvaged, usually iron or steel are mixed in with everyday furniture. Wood that looks like it has been weathered outside is incorporated as well. It usually works best as accent pieces. Here are some more rooms with the Industrial Chic look mixed in. A coffee table here, a task lamp there, or maybe even a pendant or two. Enjoy the eye candy. Hooked on Houses Pinterest houzz houzz style at home house and home pinterest better homes and gardens

blue bird chic giveaway

No. 29 Design has a new sponsor, Blue Bird Chic, with a beautiful etsy shop. Blue Bird Chic offers hand sewn items like camera cases and epi pen covers that really are a work of art. Each piece is beautiful, sturdy, and functional. Check out Blue Bird Chic’s blog as well! Blue Bird Chic has generously offered the readers here at No. 29 Design their choice of a lovely item in her etsy shop. All you need to do is the following three things. 1. follow No. 29 Design 2. “like” No. 29 Design on Facebook 3. enter a comment below. This giveaway will be open until Monday, March 26th at 11:59 pm EST. A winner will be chosen at random by Random.org. One entry per person please! Good luck! {read the official giveaway rules here}

hiding your plumbing on a budget

This basement renovation was budgeted for and we had all sorts of ideas. If you’ve seen the before pictures of the basement, you’ll notice there are pipes and wires everywhere. Taking down the entire ceiling and putting new drywall up to hides the pipes and wires was just not in our budget. I planned out the space keeping in mind that there would be the occasional soffit and box which would be built around what was already there. The water pipes near the support beam were moved closer to the beam. This wasn’t a lot of work and was done within one day. The entire beam will be wrapped and hopefully look like the one below, just a little bit wider. home depot The pipes within the laundry room and in the kids play section will be covered by a soffit. Near the closet we had some heating pipes that…