Upgrading the Front Door w/o Buying a New One

Happy Tuesday!!! Hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend. This is one of my favorite weekends - because it's a sign that warm weather is here to stay. And it makes you want to get started or finished with any outdoor projects, so that you can enjoy them all Summer long. 👌

OK, so I know I am not the first to jump on this bandwagon of adding some color to the front door. I love making up cool stories by the color of the front door to a home. You know - if the door is white. I assume they are pretty simple people, OK with the standards. If the color is pastel, I imagine they are whimsical. I know, you are thinking - Kimberley, really? I can't help it. I feel the front door to a home is really a reflection of who the homeowners are that live there. I mean there is a really pretty blue door that I drive by everyday. The guy drives a challenger the same color and has a jeep too. It seems the door really fits his personality. Well at least I think so. 

So I really wanted the same for us. I wanted the door to compliment us and the way we want our home to be. Pretty much a cross between modern and comfy. We like being different but enjoy just chilling around the house. We have a good cross between modern elements and vintage elements in our home. I know your thinking - what is that? I don't know, we are just different. 😁

Ok back to the door. I had always knew from the first day we moved in that the boring white door that was filthy had to go. I mean I liked nothing about it. If I had it my way I would have gotten a new one. But with so many other projects, the door had to stay white. But I knew eventually it could be updated with some paint. 👍

After the snafu with the back door, I knew I needed to find a better product than just exterior paint.  Oh wait, I should tell you about the snafu. The back door was even more boring than the front. It had a large pain of glass in it and needed some love. Since I was painting the interior doors black, you know going bold, I decided to paint the inside of the door black to match the rest of the doors in the home. It all seemed to be going to so well, until I took the painters tape off. The paint was just peeling it looked awful. 😩 DIHer nightmare for sure. I was sooo disappointed. It was actually what haulted my progress with finishing up painting our interior doors black. I left it sitting that way for almost 2 years. I know, pick your mouth up off the ground. Don't worry, I felt terrible about it. Jay asked me only a dozen or so times, when was I going to fix it. 

Moving back to this project, I knew there had to be a better product. After researching exterior door paints, I came across a product called Front Door by Modern Masters. This stuff is AH-MAZING!! I will admit it's on the pricier side. So I was a little hesitant. I had a gift card so it didn't kill my budget. The coolest thing about this product is the app they have. It lets you take a pic of your door and play with all of the  available colors, and there are 24 of them, to find the right one for your home. 

Obviously, I settled on black. I mean I had already settled on the color when we first moved in but I had fun playing with some of the other colors. And who knows, I may change the color again. Some other good things - quick drying time, you can use it to paint in almost any temperature, and it's a one day project.

So What You Need:

• 1 Container of Modern Masters Front Door Paint

• 1 Paint Brush or Roller - really doesn't matter

• 1 Wet & Soapy Rag
• Painters Tape
• Contact Paper - If you decide to frost some of your glass
• Sand Paper

I started by cleaning the door thoroughly. I like using vinegar to clean doors because it does an excellent job and isn't so smelly. Once done, I dried the door with a paper towel and began taping the door. Our door has a ton of glass in it, so I had to take my time and tape it. I used an exacto knife to get the tape exactly in the panes. Once all the prep was done, I got started. I decided to prime my door due to the issue I had with the back door. I let the primer dry for an hour and half.

I finished at 10:30am with the first coat of paint. The paint dries to the touch within an hour. I mean actually, it was pretty dry by the time I got done with one side. Follow the normal steps to paint a door. At 12:30pm, I was able to apply a second coat. According the product, it is ready for a second coat in 2 hours. It was true to its word.

First Coat

The second coat went on and the door really started to look good. I knew after the second coat, that I did not have to apply a third coat. I was so excited, my vision was started to come true for the front of the house. The house finally a pop of attitude. By 3pm, I was able to start taking off the painters tape and at 4pm, I was able to shut the door. So what do you think, looking good right??

When Jay got home that afternoon, he was all smiles. He said we finally had some curb appeal. This was the final piece to our weekend front porch makeover. We both stood in the driveway for 30 minutes in awe of how much our home had spiffed up.

I completed the front door look by adding some faux frosting to our windows to create a bit more privacy. Can't tell you the number of people that ring the bell and then stand there and look into the home to see when we are coming to the door. That drives me crazy!! I am so thrilled with the way it looks. I think the door looks very modern now. And of course, I had to throw a wreath on it. Just so it wasn't looking too modern. 👀

The door has held up all week and still looks good. I ❤ this stuff so much now, that I finally stripped the back door, cleaned it, and taped it up and gave it a new paint job. It's looking pretty stanking good too! Yay! I completed the door makeovers by painting the interiors of the back door,  garage door and the front door. All with one jar of this stuff. And I still have a little bit left. I probably could paint the exterior of the garage door. To be on the safe side, I am just going to order some more and paint the exterior of both the garage door and the back door. Heck, I should probably paint my outside garage door. Okay, I may be getting ahead of myself. I have a few more interior things to do before I venture out to do more doors.

What do you think, do front doors tell the personality of the owners or the home? Have you added a punch of color to your front door. Share with me, I love to hear what other DIYers are doing.

Check out the entire front porch makeover. 

Until next time, Kimberley!

p.s. Modern Masters is not a sponsor of my blog, nor did they supply me the product. This is just my opinion of the product. 

Finally Freshened Up: Front Porch Makeover

HAPPY THURSDAY!!! I am so excited to share with you my weekend warrior project. I know you are thinking, really you are just now sharing this with us. I promise, I have been meaning to share this with you guys since Monday. Nonetheless, Jay and I have finally gotten to getting our front porch ready for Spring. Lol! Just in time to enjoy it for the Summer. Yay! 

When we first visited our home, the porch was soooo inviting. It's the first thing you notice when you pull up at our home. I have to admit, I wasn't exactly sure how we would fill it but after being in the home a few weeks I knew it was going to be a great place to watch the sun go down and relax with guests. Don't get me wrong, the back deck is just as enjoyable but it's not what you see when you pull into our driveway. Ya know that thing called - Curb Appeal. 😁 

Never knew how important curb appeal was until I bought this home. We live in a private development and the one thing that is pretty awesome about this development is that all the yards and homes have great curb appeal. The grass is green, the flowers look beautiful, and the trees are planted ever so carefully in the front yards. It's these things that actually draw your eye, when you are driving. How pretty is that yard? Wow that tree is pretty awesome, wonder what it is? Ok, maybe not you. But I definitely pay attention to these details. 

Ok back to this post, the first thing I knew right away was the door had to be updated. While we couldn't afford a brand new door. At least not one that we would like to have - I knew we could afford paint and a brush. So we painted the front door. You remember I liked bold, right? The black door really looks nice on our very earth toned home.  

It's bold, right!!!

I absolutely ❤ how this turned out. It just adds so much personality to our home.  And the door got another new treat with the addition of a nice clean Summer wreath. It just breathes Spring/Summer and welcomes everyone. I will post a article about the door and the special treat I will add soon. Next up, we need to get a screen door. I know, don't get ahead of yourself. Enjoy the update you already did. By now, you know me. I am always thinking of the next project. I think every DIHer does. It's just in our DNA. But that will come soon enough. Probably put that on the list for next Spring.  Here's a question - do you think the light fixtures need to go black? I know, I just said I would stop. But that could be an easy fix. 

Moving on from the door was the piece to resistance ( I've always wanted to say that) - my beloved loveseat. Why is it my beloved, you ask? My wonderful FIL made it for us. It's one of those treasures that will be with us forever. I found the plans online and he made it. Isn't he the bestest!!! And you have to love Ana White. She makes things so easy for us DIYers. Our loveseat got a new coat of paint. Some carpenter bees weren't so nice to it last summer, so it needed some wood filler, a good coat of primer, and good coat of paint. I opted to spray paint this piece. More about that coming soon. Oh I need to add some more pillows. The hubs thought it was fine with just one set of pillows. Me - nah. So I going to make another set in a complimenting print. And I think it needs one little décor pillow in the middle. But it looks pretty as it stands. 

And to complete our porch makeover, we added these lovely over the rail planters. I will be honest - I don't have a green thumb at all. But I have always loved these planters. I had wanted some when we were in the apartment but we never even got patio furniture there - so it seemed a bit unnecessary.  The time is right now - I mean come on  the rails look lonely without something on them. And I mean finally, I feel our home fits in with the rest of the awesome homes in our neighborhood.  

So back to my green thumb. I had to complete a ton of research to even know what to put in these lovely planters. I find this really nice post from 3 Little Greenwoods, where she talks all about these planters. Thanks, Ashley!!! I am absolutely in love with them. They bring me great joy when I pull into our driveway. 😍

I finally feel as though our home has made a complete upgrade in just a weekend. Shout out to the hubs, for getting the grass together. And a joint 30 minute clean up of our overgrown flower bed. Not sure what we will fill in then front bed with, but that's a problem for another day. I can live with it as it for this Summer. 

Have you tackled a Spring refresh project? Or have a great porch makeover? Share them with me. I love to hear what others are doing. 

Until next time, Kimberley

NACA Does it Really Help: How We Got qualified in 90 Days (Part 2 of the Series)

Happy Monday! I wanted to start of the week by getting back to the NACA series. As you recall, in the first post of this series, we left off with the road to qualification beginning. You recall our Action Plan and I refer you to NACAs 10 Steps to Homebuying so you know what you are facing. At this point, we just needed to do everything on our list from our mortgage counselor. The Action Plan if you recall, was short but had a lot of detail.

Previously, I mentioned that you had to have detailed records. But what I hadn't mentioned is that once you agree on your monthly budget and monthly savings goal - you are locked in. Meaning you cannot spend anything more than agreed upon because you will be providing NACA with your monthly bank statements to prove you are staying on track. So no deviations at all. It's crucial that you understand what I am saying here. We pretty much felt tied down to the fact that we couldn't just spend willy nilly. And that we needed to keep a certain minimum in our accounts. NACA will scrutinize over every single line item in your bank statements.

A few pieces of advice on sticking to your NACA budget.

• If you pay your rent online - make sure you print yourself a receipt and can tie it back to your bank statements. Every month, I had to circle the monthly rent payment on the bank statements and provide the receipt back-up.
• Having multiple accounts can be overload - you have to submit monthly bank statements for each account.
• Negative account balances is a no-no, even if you have overdraft protection. It shows you lack money management skills.
• Consistency with transactions is crucial.
• Withdrawing large sums of money - not a good idea. You will end up having to justify every cent of the transaction.
• Use one account to pay household bills if you do have multiple accounts.
• Use a savings account as just that a savings account - do not have tons of withdraws from this type of account.

Keeping all these things in mind and staying focus will be key to helping you reach qualification faster. One error on your bank statements can delay you by a whole month or so depending on exactly what mistake you make. And that can be so frustrating to be close but still have to wait because you had a minor flaw.

Next, we had to tackle the items on our credit report that weren't becoming. We had to write a letter stating why each negative item was on our credit report and how we had resolved them or if we weren't aware of them at all. Between the two of us, we had to write about 8 letters total. This is where NACA really helps. Going the traditional path, you would have to get those items removed and wait 60 days to get your credit report and score to rebound. It's pretty simple, I developed a template for the letters and we just filled them in accordingly. And signed them. Not too painful at all.

One thing I will mention that played a big part in us having a faster road to qualification, was leveraging our 403b account. We had always planned to use this alongside our Savings to purchase our home. So with leveraging this, it showed we had more than enough savings to purchase. For many people, this is what causes them to move slowly through qualification with NACA. As they will have to include a line item in their monthly budget that outlines x number of dollars that they can save per month to meet their earnest dollars goal. Basically, if your NACA approved budget says you can only commit to saving $50 a pay, and your earnest money goal is $2,650 then you can tell that it would take a person a while to achieve this goal. And this step is crucial in even being considered to go through the qualification process.

Having all of these things in place, we were set to meet with our mortgage counselor in December. If I recall correctly, our meeting was scheduled two weeks before Christmas. We got to the meeting, all excited and fully expecting to walk out with a qualification letter. Since we were told that if you got your qualification request in by 10am - you had a good chance to get qualified quickly. Well, let me tell you - we were not happy campers when we left this appointment. After looking at everything our counselor said we needed to resolve two more minor things. And when I say minor, I mean minor. One was my last name was different on a previous tax return than it was on our then current tax return. Duh, I now go by my married name. And they did not like that our web printed bank statements didn’t' have the web address at the bottom of the page and I had only been submitting the pages with details. I had left off the fourth page that just has bank updates or is intentionally left bank. I ended up having to reprint everything with a web address and leaving in the fourth page and resubmitting. We left the meeting with an appointment for the week before Christmas. Urgh!! My frustration here, comes with the fact that NACA makes you submit everything monthly, so in theory your counselor should be evaluating your online files regularly to make sure that nothing looks crazy. Thus, avoiding what happened to us.

So at the next appointment, we had everything in order and we submitted for qualification. I feel I should explain that your ( a good one) mortgage counselor will not even recommend you for qualification unless they feel you have at least a 98-100% chance of getting qualified. Our mortgage counselor explained to us that it wasn't worth us (her or us) to submit a half done qualification request, only to receive a condition list longer than my body (and I'm 5'3") . I know with our first time going through the qualification process, our mortgage counselor was shocked that the qualification team only had about 5 conditions that needed to be resolved before we could get qualified. We on the other hand, couldn't believe it. How could we even have any conditions considering, we had followed every step required by NACA to the "T" and had paid for yet another credit report that showed we had fixed everything on it? But still we had these 5 conditions. It should be noted that it took over a week and half to hear back from the underwriting team about our qualification status. We kept checking our online file daily. And when it did come in - we set up a meeting with our counselor to discuss what it meant and what we needed to do.

Honestly, looking back on this now. We really didn't have any conditions that couldn't be resolved by finding back-up details. Or reprinting something. Or providing a clarification. We worked through these items, uploaded them into our file. Notified our counselor and she resubmitted. The second time was the charm, we got our qualification. Yay!! It only took us 90 days from the day of our first appointment with our counselor to become qualified. And everyone else I talked to that went through the program, said that was the fastest they had every known of someone to become qualified. There were members that had been in limbo for a year or so. Yikes!

Thankfully, by God's grace we were able to tackle this quickly and get that ever so golden qualification letter. Boy it sure felt good. In the next post of this series, I will tackle what happens now that you are qualified and how to stay qualified if you don't find your dream house before your qualification letter expires.

Turning a Boring Shade into a Modern Window Accent

 

Ok, so I am currently working on a makeover of our living space. While, I am not ready to share a final view of the space, I am ready to share with you an update to the window treatments. I made the pelmet boxes, two falls ago, after finally finding the perfect curtains and fabric accents. I really liked them but had no idea at the time what I was going use as the bottom layer for these windows.  And for the past year and a half, I have had nothing at this window. Yep, you read that correctly. Nothing. And it wasn't for lack of trying. I just couldn't figure out what to put there.  I just put up some plain white mini blinds at the smaller windows but I never intended to leave them there. I just needed something at those windows since they faced the neighbor behind us. The big window looks out over the park so no one would peek in.  Well unless you are being very nosey when you turn around in the cul de sac.

Fast forward to today, I have become completely obsessed with Greek Key Design. So much so that I started with adding a little bit of it  here and there.  And by here and there, I mean just this accent strip to the pelmet boxes. I'll be honest I wasn't exactly sure how to incorporate into my then current design for our living space.  I didn't completely abandon the idea but I really struggled with how I could make this work. Other than adding that tiny accent strip, I wasn't sure where else I was going to be able to add it.

In my normal scrolls of Pinterest - I came across these Greek key shades.  Aren't they beautiful!! Are you oogling over them? I sure was. My design wheels starting turning very fast. I instantly new I had to have them in our living space. They would be the perfect addition to our windows. And they would be one more Greek key accent piece. Double score!

And once I found out that these were just affordable roller shades that could be purchased off the shelf at  Home Depot or Lowes. Off I went, to Lowes.  The shade was $24.97, I felt that was a great deal considering that other window treatments for a 69"+ wide window are very expensive.

I will be quite honest that while I loved the look of the shade, I wasn't sold on the idea of using duct tape. Don't get me wrong, I love duct tape but I am not sure I wanted that in my living space. I had found the below pin a while back when I had considered making greek key accent pillows. I haven't completely given up on that idea, I just tabled it while I was I figuring out how to incorporate greek key design elements into other parts of our  home décor.

I loved the ribbon used. And decided that I wanted to use ribbon instead of duct tape on my greek key shade. I loved Sarah M Dorsey's tutorial for how to guide you through making a greek key pattern. Ready to make them yourself?

Things you will need -

• Vinyl Roller Shade (size of your window)
• Inside Mount for Shade

• Painters tape
• Measuring Tape
• Ribbon
• Fabri Tac (Fabric Glue)
• A Ton of Patience

To start, you will want to measure your window to determine the exact length you will pull down your shade. As you want to have the design only on this portion. I think these shades go down 80" or so and I was only going to use 50" max when the shade was pulled down in the evening. So I only marked this section for the design. In addition, I have two lovely curtain panels on each side - so I subtracted a few inches on each side so that the design was in the center of the shade.

Next I began by measuring and putting my painters tape into place. I started by placing ribbon across the bottom. The bottom wasn't very attractive and as a bonus this gave me the first line for the bottom of the pattern.

I wanted a continuous line with the ribbon, I followed the tutorial closely for turning corners. The pattern you tape down will make this very easy. 

After I had all the painters tape in place, I was able to get started. I began at the bottom straight line and then moved right, making my way all around the piece. Just as shown in the tutorial.

Once I got to the top, I'll be honest I wasn't quite sure how this was going to work. The ribbon seemed chunky on the service and the glue seemed like it was to thick for the surface. I could have thrown in the towel but decided to finish before abandoning the project totally. Boy am I glad I didn't. 

It took me two days to finish but I think I could have done this in a few hours if I hadn't had to stop for my Little Man and other family obligations. The most time consuming part is measuring and placing your pattern with the painters tape.  Update: I completed one more for the second window in this room. And it took me a little over an hour and half to complete. Now just two more to make and this room will be complete.

Once done, you place your mounts and hang your shade. Stand back and look at how marvelous your window looks. Isn't she lovely???

Now that I have this complete look, I have purchased three more shades to complete the remaining  windows in our living space. I'll post an update picture as soon as they are all done.

If the shade is letting in way too much light for you, you can get a room darkening shade. Or get a shade in other colors. Keeping in mind the price increases for different colors and light filtering shades.  I just went for a white one since it matched the trim piece on the pelmet box and I didn't need a room darkening shade. I just wanted to cover the window and get privacy for the evenings.

So what you think? Isn't that the perfect addition to my window. Are you inspired to do something similar. Share you design ideas with me. We can all get inspiration from each other. 

NACA..Does it Really Help?? (Series)

Good morning. Pardon my two week break. We suffered a great loss in our family and I needed to direct my attention to healing and being with family. I am sure you all can understand. Also, I apologize in advance for the rather long post this week. But if you are considering NACA or even purchasing your first home and want to know your options - take the time to read this post. This will be the first of a what will probably end up being multiple posts.

When Jay and I started with NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America), we were just starting to think about purchasing a home. Purchasing a home was definitely in our plan. We had it listed as a goal but didn't have a timeline on when we would pull the trigger and buy a house. I mean our rent was steadily increasing and so many people were telling us that we could buy a house for less than what we paid in rent per month. You know the whole - see your money invested into something that is yours versus giving your money away. It seemed coincidental at the time (mostly God) that my mother was at a meeting for her union where a NACA representative presented and so my mother introduced us to the program. Brilliant!!🙏🏽

So, off we went, along with my Brother, Jay and I attended the NACA Homebuying workshop in August of 2013. We listened to the program highlights, benefits, and the downfalls. The nice thing about the workshop was that they had a prior NACA member speak about their experience with NACA. He was very honest, at least I felt he was, about his experience. He noted some good things, the bad things, and the things that probably were his fault with his overall experience. Ultimately he had ended up with his dream house. Based on everything we had learned, we decided that we would at least attend a one-on-one meeting with a mortgage counselor. I mean what could be the harm in that. 

After the workshop, we began setting up our online profile and scheduling a one-on-one meeting. We were a little bummed to learn that the earliest we could get a meeting was October. I mean after getting us all jazzed up and stuff. 😔 We decided that the outcome of the one-on-one meeting would be the deciding factor of whether or not we would actually go down this path to buy our first home together. I mean the NACA promises of   no closing costs, no down payment, and the locked in PMI  - were all huge selling points to us. Those are all the things that scare a first time home buyer. At least they scared Jay and I. Neither one of us had ever purchased a home. I have made plenty of other purchases, like cars. But those seem so nominal when you talk about purchasing a home. I mean a home comes with a commitment of 15, 20, or even 30 years. Depending on how you structure your mortgage. 😳

Continuing with the preparation for the upcoming 1:1 meeting, we started with the workbook. Oh - I forgot to mention, they hand you a thick workbook at the workshop. Ok so maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure felt like it. I remember being kind of overwhelmed by the level of detail for each page. The workbook will become your guide throughout your entire process with NACA. This workbook outlines the entire process from start to finish and includes worksheets. Thus we knew we had to begin doing the first steps of the workbook. Since the costs were minimal to begin this part, we felt it was still not too big of an investment to consider - even if we weren't 100% sure we were going to proceed.

I pride myself on being the CFO of our home. And by that I mean, I pretty much keep us on track with our monthly budget, and financial goals. But even for me, the budgeting exercises with NACA were eye opening. They helped me to take a deeper dive at our daily expenses, our debt load, and to evaluate if our currently monthly budget was actually working for us. I'll be frank - we pretty much had a free life. And by free, I mean all of our bills were paid, we managed our debt load, and we had no worries. We had savings, we had investments into our retirement, and we had security with our jobs. But this budgeting exercise made you think deep into your future and planning for "life bumps". You know those unexpected shake-ups that happen in life. I mean the budget process will make you account for every dime of your pay. And then it will make you look at every expense and break them down into categories of importance. NACA asks you to build your online profile and fill in certain items. You have to pay a membership fee and pay for a credit report. We ended up paying $14 for our credit report since we are married. In addition, we had to upload our most current financial details - including paychecks, W-2s, and other pertinent information. I'll be the first to admit, it did seem a bit intrusive but after learning more about home buying the traditional way - it is all intrusive. 😩 The budget component really intrigued us. This exercise allowed us to take an in-depth look at our finances and determine what we really can afford in a monthly mortgage payment. It was pretty eye opening. It didn't make us run from the program, but I will be honest - we both thought this may or may not work out for us. The other thing with this system is it is pretty antiquated. It's ok from your end, but it is pretty slow on your mortgage counselor's end.

SO, we attended our first meeting with our mortgage counselor in October of 2013. Being excited about the potential of getting qualified and the factors that went into planning and preparing us for a mortgage, we went into the meeting with an open mind. I won't lie - we were seeing stars about being homeowners. We really liked the mortgage counselor she was down to earth and very well spoken. She laid everything out on the line for us. And gave us her perspective on what it would take for us to become homeowners through NACA. Overall, the results weren't bad. She provided a review of our credit report and guided us on what we would need to fix and work on before we would be considered for the qualification process. The list we got wasn't bad but it was going to take work to complete. The positive thing for us, our mortgage counselor was pretty confident we could get approved by the end of the year. We thought that was pretty amazing! Considering, we had heard that it took some people a year or so to even get qualified. I know, pick  your mouth up off the ground. At least, I had to do that when I heard that timetable.

Here's the work we needed to do for qualification:

• Work on resolving any of the negative items on our credit reports - I will be quite honest here. There was stuff we didn't even realize was on ours. A few miscellaneous medical bills and other nonsense from back in our younger days. We even had a few things that didn't even belong to us. 
• Volunteer - You need to have a # number of volunteer hours before you can get qualified. Our goal was to knock these out right away. There are various ways to volunteer.
• Financial documents - we needed to secure tax documents, W2s, paychecks, bank statements from the past 2 years. And continue to submit monthly payroll statements until we were qualified.
• Budget - Continue working on our budget and the agreed budget we made with our counselor.

I mean that list seems cumbersome but even the traditional mortgage route can be daunting, at least from what I have read. This is where you have to be a diligent and organized person. I can't stress enough about keeping your copies and making sure you have a routine schedule for uploading documents to your online profile. And keeping your electronic files organized. We learned very early on that you need to upload everything they request but come to meetings, with your mortgage counselor, with copies of everything. I had a binder that I kept with everything and electronic copies of files so that I could email right to our file.

The last thing we did at our 1:1 meeting was schedule a  follow-up appointment scheduled for mid December. Keeping in mind that we had to have everything listed above completed. Otherwise, we would not get considered for qualification. So here is where the fun begins…stay with me for part 2 of this post. Especially, if you want to learn more about how NACA really works. I promise to share everything we know, learned, and would do over.

A Big Solution for a Little Problem..Ikea Hack

So last week, I revealed our Little Man's nursery. I hoped you enjoyed seeing a peek into the design style and the way it all came together. This week, I am focusing on creating a closet when there really isn't one.

 Jaxon's room as you know, is located in a loft style room in our home. Off this room is an "attic closet." Attic closet you say to yourself - what is she talking about?? Well, I call it an attic closet because it is a room that sits off the loft with a door but kinda of reminds you of an attic space. Either way, when we bought the house they sold us on the fact that it was considered a third bedroom because of this closet space. It could have functioned as a great walk-in if this was the master.  The space was virtually a blank canvas except that we had begun to store items in this space. Since I haven't gotten around to creating a craft room, this place partially functioned as storage for my craft supplies. Our clothes in one section, comforters and bedding in another, and then the far back space functioned as storage for special items. Or things we didn't want to store in the basement. Since I am crazy about organization, I figured that we did not have enough storage in the nursery for extra blankets, extra clothes - basically all the extra stuff you need with a little one. I am a "prepper" so I like to have the next phase of stuff and the phase after if possible. In other words, I like having more than I probably need for this little guy.

So combining the fact that we were already storing things in the closet and the fact that we needed space for extras and a "real" closet to hang Little Man's stuff - I needed to design something that was both functional and absolutely adorable. Considering the nursery had set the bar kinda of high. The other challenge here - I wanted to reuse two bookshelves from the office that would be going to the basement to collect dust.

In my searches for nursery closets had seen a few posts where people had used Ikea shelves in there closets and from that the plan was derived. I figured I could make a closet out of the two shelves we had. I mean like a real closet with rods. Plus, I already had bins for each space. And they don't make the five bin shelves anymore, this has been replaced with the Kallax Shelf now. I think you could do the same with them. So I said goodbye to what I thought were going to be window seats w/ bookshelves below for the office/craft room. And hello to a closet!

What we used -

• 2 Ikea Expedit Shelves (Kallax replacement)
• 10 Drona Boxes 
• 2 Closet Rods 
• Drill
• Level
• Label Maker
• Cute Little Dividers
• Muscles (Hubbs)
• Shoe Shelves 

In a matter of 45 minutes we had the system together. And in a matter of a couple of hours, I had already washed up some stuff and started organizing the closet space. But the best part, we only had to spend $20 to create this closet for our Little Man. Yay!!!! I absolutely love when I re-purpose existing items and save money on a project. The only new items purchased were the closet rods and the cute little dividers. I got them at BuyBuyBaby with a 20% coupon. Score!

While the black bins don't match the rest of the nursery, I figured since the door to the closet will be closed they sort of function as two different spaces. Perhaps, I will get the urge to cover the bins with matching fabric from the nursery. But until, then I think not bad for our first Ikea hack!

Don't you agree you can never have enough storage? 

Nursery Fit for a Little Man

So buying a home wasn't the only thing that kept me away from the blogsphere for a while. Last August, Jay and I welcomed our first born - Jaxon. A healthy littleman, who weighed in at 9lbs 6oz. Yep, you read that correctly. No wonder, I felt like I was carrying such a load.

Upon discovering we were pregnant, my mind began wondering at the speed of lighting about designing a special space for my little person. At the time, I didn't know the sex of the baby and wasn't sure if we were going to find out. So many inspiration nurseries filled my searches daily. The one thing I knew for sure is that I was not repainting the color of the walls. I had just painted them a little over a 6 months ago, I pretty shade of gray. So my whole design element had to go around this color as one the main colors.

Early on I had thought about yellow and gray for either a boy or a girl. Then I came across different color schemes with gray and showed them to Jay. We both thought... we really need to know what we were having.

Photo Credit - This Is Our Bliss

We soon discovered that we were having a littleman. And then the races were on. That is the race to create the coolest nursery ever. Since I didn't want to impose on Jaxon a themed nursery. I mean afterall, he needed to experience the world a bit to discover his favorite cartoon hero or superhero. I knew I needed to create a lot of little elements that made the space grow with him.

We decided on a nursery with a color scheme of aquamarine, grey, white, and navy blue. We absolutely loved all these colors together. The way the color schemed got sealed was when I designed his bedding. After that we were hooked.

Don't you just love the way that looks. Cuteness meets modern Baby Boy nursery. BTW - Carousel Designs is the best place to order custom design linens for your child. They have a really neat design builder that lets you pick every detail from the piping on the comforter to the two tone detail of the crib skirt. They offer discounts a few times a year and pretty much come out in price to what you would pay for a store bought set.

The nursery was previously our office so we had to clear out the furniture. I began by drawing up a design board. I do that. I am sad to say, I couldn't find it for this post. I am sure I kept it. Oh well. We would be working with a few design road blocks. First, two large picture windows, an open spot that looks down into our great room, a ceiling that has various heights, and an open doorway to the steps. Oh and a TV that was mounted to the wall with the primary cable box and the WiFi stuff.

I knew right away that the crib would be placed where you see my craft table. And that the rocker and a side table would block the Router and other stuff. I knew I needed storage and a changing table. I figured a changing table between the two windows and a storage shelf on the wall looking down to the great room. (Sorry I have no before picture of that wall).

With the basic layout determined, it was now time to begin layering the space with the pieces, textures, and warmth it needed. I lucked up when my good friend gave me her crib, changing table, and rocker & ottoman. 😁 Yay! For good friends. This was such a blessing to us. I gave the crib & changing table a modern update by painting them both grey with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint  (Paris Grey). Once we moved them in to the room, it really began to take shape.

The nice thing about Carousel Designs, is that you can order curtains and additional fabric in the prints you select for the bedding. Since we chose Navy Blue, Aquamarine, and the Gray Embrace Print - I ordered navy and Gray Embrace fabric to use on the curtains. I decided to create a Pelmet Box for this room with two long panels on each side for both windows. The Pelmet Boxes were done in the Gray Embrace print and the panels were done in the Navy Blue print. The nice thing about this project is that it cost a little bit of nothing to make both. I made the Pelmet Boxes out of Foamboard, Duct Tape, and my Hot Glue Gun. I added some batting to give them a bit more substance, which I had on hand, and TaDa - I had two custom Pelmet Boxes. Considering that the windows were 62" wide, I know that was a considerable savings. In addition, I whipped out my sewing machine and made four basic curtain panels, using Shabby Creek Cottage's tutorial. I just didn't add the grommets. It was actually easy breezy. So all in all, I just had the cost of the fabric. I hung the panels on picture hooks (something else I had on hand) and clipped rings from Ikea. They are only $3.99 for a pack of Ten and it took 2 packs to hang the panels on both windows. I recommend them for hanging curtains with no tabs that will covered up. Or you could spray paint them to match any finish you need.

Next up was adding little bits of pizzazz. I had been crushing on handmade mobiles. And I came across the one seen below.

Photo Courtesy - evieandsarah.com

It was so cute and just what I was looking for - abstract! Check out the complete tutorial on how to make this. I followed the instructions to a tee and came up with one pretty incredible mobile. Only difference, I went to Michael's and was able to score a pack of paper that matched the nursery color scheme. Bonus - I used a 40% off coupon and got the pack for $5. What do you think? Pretty stinken cute isn't it.

With everything taking shape, I added a monogram to the wall. If you are wondering why I settled on a monogram over putting up his name - it is because we didn't tell anyone what we were going to name him until he arrived. Plus, I absolutely was fascinated with his initials. I purchased three wood letters from Hobby Lobby at 50%. So total was $7.00. And then I scored a deal on 12x12 canvas from Michaels. During their big Spring art sale. I purchased 10 sheets of scrapbook cardstock in various prints and solid colors but keeping to the color scheme. I used Modge Podge to adhere the cardstock to the letters and my exacto knife to trace the letters and remove the extra paper. Next, I added cardstock to the canvas with Modge Podge and then adhered the letters to the Canvas. So it created a 2D type monogram for the wall above his crib.

Oh I forgot to mention, I purchased a regular metal trashcan to convert into a laundry hamper and spray painted it the aquamarine color to match the scheme and then I sewed together a liner. I wanted it to have a cute little Grey Embrace border.

During my trip to Ikea for the curtain rings, I purchased a Kallax shelf to fix my need for storage. Along with 8 Drona Boxes. I had no intention of filling each bin with a Drona box but thought I should get at least 8, considering the color that matched the nursery was on clearance for $3.99 a box. That way I would have them should I need them in the future. In addition, I purchased an end table & lamp to sit next to the rocker.

For the final piece to complete the nursery, I made the inspiration piece. I followed This is Our Bliss' tutorial on how to make this. She even includes a download to the cute word art she has displayed on the board. I made a few minor differences. For one, I added some Ikea cups that I already had for storing little things. And I painted mine a crisp white to go with the grey walls. And I couldn't have been more thrilled with the way it turned out.

Jaxon has moved in and the room is functioning just I had thought. And I ❤ my LitteMan's Nursery.

Are you working on a nursery? Share with me your design for your little person's space.

Why I Love Bold (And You Should, Too!)

With all the trending pictures of hallway and door presentations out there... I have been thinking of doing the same to our home. Before we even purchased a home, I had begun to pin pictures of warm grey interiors with dark color doors. Upon moving in, I purchased black paint and painted one door. You know to see if we would like it. I painted the laundry door, which isn't in the main hallway and not really noticeable. I didn't love it but I didn't hate. I just felt like you could see every brush stroke and that it didn't give the door a punch of attitude. In all of my inspiration photos, the doors looked stunning without being cold. They seemed to really add something to the interiors of all the other homes. It felt flat in my home. 😡

Well that was a year and half ago. Since I am on a $0 home decor budget right now, I have been thinking what can I do to satisfy my DIY itch, without going over my budget. So, I decided to revisit painting our interior doors again. As I was making my project list for my the Spring/Summer, I stumbled across one of my inspiration photos.

Photo Credit - SoulStyle Blog (click photo to read  post)

Don't you just love how much punch the black interior doors add to her hallway. You should head over to SoulStyle to check out the entire before and after of this area. It will leave you feeling like you want to add a punch to your interior doors. Because I got jazzed up again about painting the doors. I went the basement and gathered up the gallon of black paint and headed to the HD to have the paint shaken again. Upon return, I gathered up my supplies and began the prep work.

What You Need

• 1 Gallon of Interior Paint - I used Ultra Black w/ Deep Base (Behr Premium Ultra) Paint & Primer in One/ Satin Finish
• Paint Brush - I used my handy dandy Wooster Pro 2" paint brush (It's my go to brush)
• Screwdriver - to remove the door hardware
• Painters tape
• Dropcloth
• Paper towels/Wet Rag - To pick up paint drops or when I paint outside the line

I choose to paint the three doors in our main hallway. They are on the other side of the house from my tester door. And you see them when you first come into our home. Plus, most of our guests visit this area at some point to use the Powder Room.

Here's what the doors looked liked when I got started. Yep, pretty boring.

Plus, that gold hardware.... Let's just say I am not a fan.

So I got started on adding a punch to our interior doors. I put down my drop cloth and anchored it to the floor with painters tape. Next, I cleaned the doors with a sponge and spray bottle filled with equal parts of vinegar and water. It's the perfect cleaner. You don't really have to scrub except for those areas where something has been on there for a while. 👀 After I cleaned the doors, I removed the hardware and carefully labeled everything and placed them into separate labeled storage bags for safe keeping.

I didn't remove the doors off the hinges. I really didn't see the need for this. If you never where a person who could color within the lines, then remove the doors. For me, I felt it would be easier to paint while the doors where in place. Plus, I have always been good at coloring within the lines. My FIL thinks it's a knack I have. I began by painting the center door, then I painted the bathroom door on the right and moved to the guest bedroom door on the left. Each door required two coats of paint.

Need a tutorial for painting a door the correct way, I found this diagram to be a useful one when I first started DIHing. And I refer to it from time to time, when I am painting a door and haven't done so in a while. 

As you can see the doors looked good but I knew after one more coat there were going to be just what I hoped. A bold punch of attitude for Creekside. Another step towards adding some soul to our home. So after painting the three doors with two coats of paint, here is what I ended up with. 

I couldn't be more thrilled. They are absolutely stunning. 😃 Next up the hardware. I am in a quandary about spray painting them or using rub n buff. I will update the post to include the hardware as soon as I figure out what I want to do. I know I am not purchasing new, as that would defeat my $0 budget for this project. Oh, and repainting the trim - upon completion of this project I discovered someone did not paint within the lines.

Oh and I discovered why I loved the doors this time around than when I did my tester door a while back. The three doors I did this weekend all have a wood tone to them. And with the black paint, it just makes them look amazing. The tester door is an impostor. Yes, you read that right - impostor. The door is not the same as the rest of the doors in our home. It makes sense why I can see every paint mark in the door, and that I didn't respond well to it. So now, I feel I need to replace this door. Not anytime soon, I am still in my $0 budget phase. Until then, I am sitting back and enjoying this new look and thinking I have 4 more doors to paint.

Update
I finally finished all the doors in the home. Look at this photo of the hall all finished. Finally, a very polished look inside the home. Absolutely glad, I did this.

Getting Re-Aquainted w/ an Old Friend

So it's been a while. I have sooo much to share. Long journey but we are finally home owners. I'd be the first to tell you that was why I "sort of" separated from my blog. I threw the towel in because I was out of projects at the apartment and had already began packing everything. I know - you probably think, "did she just say packing." It was my attempt at being positive. 😉 I figured if I packed up things and started prepping we would find a house. I really didn't want to get caught with my hand in the cookie jar. You know suddenly moving and only a limited time to pack it up. We had lived in the apartment for three years and I had accumulated a bunch of stuff. So I know it was going to take a while to pack everything. And this way, I could organize and pack. You know, not just throw things in boxes and sort it out when we got the new place. I absolutely am not a fan of the mystery box packing. Plus, I sort of new I wanted a new color scheme, so I had started to purchase items and bulk up my decor bins.

So let's fast forward, we have been in the house for a year and half. It was a steal. The owners absolutely just wanted to get rid of the place. It was in a location closer to the city, but still in a development. It's a best of both worlds type of deal. Score for our home shopping list. Crazy though, we ended up with a ranch. Yep, you read it correctly a ranch. Anyone that knows me, knows that I absolutely did not want to live in a ranch. I wouldn't even let the realtor show us any. So how did we end up seeing this one, let along buying it. Talk to my Mom. She was determined to help shop for us a home. She would spend countless hours on her iPad at night looking for homes that met our criteria. She came across our home in one of her searches and showed me. I honestly did not know it was a ranch. I hurried and called our realtor. She arranged for us to see it. We got there and both our mouths dropped. 😳. Is this a ranch??? Since we had went through the trouble, we decided to go in and to our surprise - we loved it. We put the bid in that night and a few weeks later, it was ours.

Funny thing, as with every other house we loved or placed a bid on - I usually spent hours measuring, sitting in the rooms, thinking furniture layouts and decor-dreaming. But with this house, I did none of that. I didn't take one measurement. Didn't take one picture. Refused to even get that personally involved. When we found out the house was ours - I felt like the design book was smacking me in my face. I had no plan!! I didn't recall the windows or the flooring or the kitchen cabinet colors. Nothing. Although, I think about it now - that was probably for the best. It allowed me to keep my mind clear and focus on the home buying process.

I wasted no time after we got the keys. My home decor, DIH-ing, need for a project mind got busy quickly. I started coming up with a plan or maybe a few plans for the new house. Stop over to my pinterest board and check out my inspiration for our new place. The vision for 190 - Modern Vintage with a some rustic turned Chic! So reconnect with me as I begin the journey to revive this builder grade (one style fits all) house into a home with an old soul - just like it's owner.