remodeling this life

Last week, when I showed you the adjustment I made to the living room, I got some questions about where the armoire came from. It had been in my son’s room. A while back, we finally got around to doing a complete overhaul in his room, which can be found here little boy’s bedroom makeover.

When we moved the armoire out of there, it left a whole corner of his room empty. I didn’t want to go out shopping to fill the space, so we used what we had to make him a shelf where we can display favorite books, line up trains, and display photos and artwork.

His room is not this green, who knows what I did to mess up the lighting in that photo, but it’s not hard for me to mess up! Hubby painted the wood and installed the shelf. I bossed him around about what height it should be and he got cranky. Then when it was all over he admitted it was nice where I wanted it. I win!

In case anyone is curious about some of the things on the shelf, on the right hand side, there is the easy DIY wall art for kids that I made and posted at Living Locurto earlier this year. Over on the left is a leaning photo tile.

I used some of my favorite frugal stuff – jute twine and clothespins – to make another level for displaying photos and his artwork that he brings home from school. I like how non-commital a shelf and some twine and clothespins are. I can change out the artwork (we get so much new art from school every week, I sometimes feel like I am drowning in it) and photos and move them around all I want without harming any walls or frames in the process, like I did during the family photo wall project.

Remember the advent calendar I made in December? When I was packing up everything after the holidays, I decided to leave it up and use it as a message board. I had just decluttered it the day before I decided to take a pic and share it here. Some friends have come over and thought it was neat, so I figured it was worth sharing. It is often full of stuff like appointment cards and the occasional note, coupon, or whatever else seems appropriate at the time.

Apparently, I am a fan of the clothesline look!

How do you like to store and display favorite artwork and photos?

I have had the hardest time making my living room how I want it. Because it’s the room where we spend so much time, I need it to be functional and family friendly. It’s also the room that our front door enters into, so I want it to look nice as it’s the first room anyone who enters sees. I have moved furniture in and out, rearranged furniture, painted furniture and then repainted it, all to try to make this a room that everyone can enjoy and I can live with.

A couple of things were keeping this room from being one that I loved. We had a huge wall entertainment unit that was simply too big for the space, and had so many shelves that if they were filled, it looked too cluttered and if they weren’t filled, the space looked too bare. I also wasn’t a huge fan of having my big, old tv being exposed.

(a very old photo of when I was first putting the room together)

Imagine that wall unit full of stuff, and one day I decide it’s time to just do it. Move the thing out and put in something more practical. So then all that stuff is all over the living room. Say, like this:

Imagine I decided to do this the day before having a party here at the house. Nothing like a deadline to force me to get it done, right?

I asked my very strong boys to move in the armoire and they obliged.

I had this big Pottery Barn coffee table and matching end table that were given to us free when friends were getting new furniture. The coffee table was simply too big. The kids didn’t have room to play, and we could barely walk through the room. I sold the coffee table, leaving open space for the kids to play on the floor.

The end table was a mess from a combination of things. I made sure it looked extra terrible for the before photo just so when I was done with it, the after would look even better.

I thought up a million and one reasons to keep putting off painting the table but in a burst of energy, fueled by sunshine on Sunday, I just did it.

after

Now, we have a room the kids can enjoy and play in, piling up toys and building train tracks across. We can walk through the room from any angle, I can close the tv into the armoire, and we created the area in the corner with the chair and lamp where anyone can curl up and read, but it’s still close enough to the couch that we haven’t lost the conversation area from before.

I’m glad I stopped making excuses and just did it, making a room I love and spending zero dollars in the process.

I’m adding this to Trash To Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented and DIY Day at A Soft Place To Land. Check them out for lots of neat-o projects around blogland.

She’ll take the old ones off.

When she’s up close to the old ones, she’ll notice how dirty the white cabinets are.

She’ll spend 25 minutes searching for the brand new box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers she bought last week.

She’ll stop and tweet that she can’t find them.

Then she’ll find them.

And clean the cabinets.

Then decide maybe now is a good time to take off her upper cabinet doors and try the bare look.

Then realize how cluttered everything in her cabinets are now that the world (or the four people that live here) can see everything.

Then she’ll stare, puzzled at the cabinets.

Instead of organizing them, she’ll clean the microwave.

Move the microwave.

Organize pots and pans.

Put the new cabinet knobs on.

She’ll try to take pictures of them and have to ask her two year old to stop jumping on her back. He’s making the already too dark photos fuzzy.

Her hubby will get home, roll his eyes, and she’ll say,

“I think we need new drawer pulls now.”

And he’ll say, “can we clean up the kitchen mess first?”