Yaaaarrrrrr, Me Thinks A Re-Post Be In Order!

*** I thought this post was maybe worthy of a 're-post'. It's been one of my most popular posts and since I'm in the middle of a ton of crafting/painting/repurposing, etc... I thought I'd just do a little re-do. If you've seen this post already then sorry for the repeat. If not then grab a mug of yer finest ale and enjoy me little pirate project from last year!***

When I was in Pennsylvania last October Mike had a great idea and turned a huge closet into a fun fort for the boys. A pirate ship to be precise. I was super excited about this new fort and told Mike I would be happy to paint it and make it a little more "Pirate-y".

Well, I did finally finish painting it and it only took me 5 months! But I must say, "Yaaaaarrrrrrrrrr, she looks grrrreat!"

And the boys love it!

First we started with a huge closet that we didn't know what to do with...
Then this happened...
Yes, those are toys and other junk under the fort. I'm not THAT great! :)


We still have to put the trap door in so the boys can use this for sleepovers. Plus I need to take 10 minutes and clean up the paint that I dripped on the deck of the 'ship'. I was just in a hurry to get this post up so you didn't all think I was giving up after the blog war!

She's Finished!

Rememeber this little chair I showed you last week?

Well guess what? She's finished!!!!! And I'm in LOVE!!!

I found the chair at the local thrift store, (Value Village for all you Canadians), where they were asking a mere $10! Using a gift certificate I got from my sister for Christmas ~Jana, you know me so well~, I was able to get the chair for FREE!

The fabric was given to me by my mom, again, for FREE! She was going to use it for some curtains in her kitchen cabinets but decided to go another way and I benefited greatly from her indecision. Thanks mom!!!

I needed a little more fabric than what she had so I did have to buy a bit more... at 50% OFF! Yaya again! Plus I had to buy the buttons to cover.



A side-by-side...


So total money spent...

$35!!!


I WIN!


I'm linking this post to the following parties. Go on over and check out many other great projects!!!



TATERTOTS and JELLO






The Persimmon Porch





Design-A-Holic






Decor Mamma's Frugalicious Friday

The DIY Show Off

Yay for me! I was featured today on one of my very favorite blogs....

The DIY Show Off

If you're looking for great crafting, decorating, sewing (I could go on and on) ideas then check out this blog. I promise you...

YOU'LL LOVE IT!!!

And remember that chair I talked about here....?

Well, she's finished!! I love it so much that I'm not sure I'm going to let anyone actually sit on it!

Check back tomorrow for before and after shots!

Heart and Stroke Foundation

Wanna help a 6 year old win a prize package?

And on the plus side you might feel good about doing something good!

Visit his web page here:
BC HEART AND STROKE FOUNDATION

Perfection

Don't get me wrong, I am in love with my new house. We love it here and the fixer-upper projects have been a lot of fun, no, really! But I stumbled upon this photo this morning and it just screamed perfection to me. I'm in love!

Doesn't that just look like a home you'd like to hang your hat in, take off your shoes and snuggle up in a nice big overstuff chair with a good book and a fire?

What do you think?

What is your vision of 'perfection'?

It's Gonna Be a Beaut!

I've got a super fun project in the works!!! It involves this chair...

.... a little fabric and some TLC.

I'm pretty excited for the outcome!

Check back for updates.

Mudroom Before and After

I've been taking a ton of pictures while we do this whole house renovation thing and since things are really starting to feel 'finished' in a few places I thought I'd share a few photos.

First up, the front door and entryway/mudroom.

We started with a nice white door and royal blue window panes.

Not terrible, but certainly not what I had in mind.

Ahhhh, much better.

~Keep in mind, many of these pictures were taken a while ago, which is my excuse for pumpkins being on the front porch!~

When we open the door you'll find many, many changes.

First I'll show you a bit of the floor as it used to be.

You'll notice the carpet. Ewwwwww. Imagine the water and mud and dirt and everything else that was in that carpet. Yuck.

This is the only photo I have of the floor 'before' because it was one of the very first things I tore out.

We decided to go with a dark but neutral tile that we found at Home Depot.

I love it. We (and by we I mean my super talented cousin Elana) laid the tile in an offset pattern and I really love that it's a little different than what most people do.

The wall of the mudroom were covered in a plastic-ish something that did NOT want to come off.

And there were hooks everywhere. Functional? Yes. Functional and beautiful? Not quite.

So I pulled off the hooks and shelves....

.... and patched the walls for paint.

And my favorite part of the 'before'?

The yellow/brown/orange window leading from the mudroom to the main part of the house.

Gorgeous isn't she?

So the steps went as followed:
- Replace carpet with tile flooring
- Remove hooks and shelves and patch walls
- Paint
- Add beadboard (on top of blue-ish stuff cause it won't come off)
- Remove brownish/yellow/orange window
- Enlisted Kaelen (awesome brother) to make a built in 'locker' system
- Decorate!!!

Here are some of the 'afters'!!!




I love how it all turned out.

What do you think?

I'm linking this to some of my favorite sites!!!

DIY Showoff

A Little Fabric....

I've discovered that a little fabric goes a long way!

I've been thinking that the french doors leading to my piano/t.v. room have been lacking a certain something. I thought about covering them with some panel curtains but I didn't want to lose the light and the view into that room. Luckily I found some great fabric on sale for 70% OFF!!! I think I just may have made The Nester proud with my 'mis-treatment'!

Before:

The wall was bare and needed a punch, plus the molding near the ceiling stops right in the middle of the room? Don't ask me why.

With a few tips from The Nester and some of this...

We get this...

AFTER:

Ahhhhh! So much better, no?

I liked it so much I decided to do the same thing in my bedroom.

Remember this post when I talked about how I thought the long wall behind my bed needed something more?

BEFORE:

Not bad, but in need of somthing more...

AFTER:

Ahhh, just what it needed!

And would you have ever guessed that it's simple, old push pins keeping these bad boys up? I'll switch the pins out for something a little more permanent when I find the perfect rods but until then the push pins will do and the good news is that you can't see them even if you are right under them! YAY!

I'm in love with the results! But what I'm most excited about is that I spent a total of about $12 for the fabric in both rooms!! Yay me!

***On a seperate note, I found the photos I took from the day we moved in!!! I'll be posting before and after photos of different rooms in the house in the near future so stay tuned.***


I'm linking this post up to some of my favorite blogs! Feel free to visit and get some really great ideas for your home!

Between Naps On The Porch

Thrifty Decor Chick

A Soft Place to Land

ReInvented

A Silly Little Sparrow

Today's Creative Blog

Finding Fabulous