the lego cabinet thingy

Good morning, all! If you're reading this on Wednesday morning, it means my little scheme to reduce my computer time is working. I'm writing this on Saturday night, and scheduling it to publish itself later in the week. I'm tricksy like that.

But, I'm editing first to add - thank you! The feedback from yesterday was very helpful. I really appreciated it!

Did you notice the lego cabinet thingy in the family room tour last week? Yes. I finally got it finished. I think it only took me three months.

I mentioned that I trash picked this, didn't I? I don't generally do that, being a germophobe and all. But, it was a respectable neighborhood, and it looked pretty clean. The ring pulls were what caught my attention. The only problem with it was the Asian figures (engraved? embossed?) on the front.

Exhibit A: iPhone pic...



(Woooo-ee.)

I took all the little drawers out, cleaned everything really well, and painted the main part of the cabinet white.



Then I set out to modge podge some thick, texture scrapbook paper to the front of each drawer.



This was the part that took me forever. I have no idea why. It's not like it was difficult. I only did 4 or 5 drawers at a time, and I guess I just got bored with it. It seemed like the drawers would never end.



See those bubbles? Annoying. After a few drawers, I started repeatedly pressing the paper down and smoothing it now and then as it dried. If I didn't do that over and over again, I got these bubbles. I put the modge podge on the drawer first, and placed and pressed the paper down. After it dried (and after I kept pressing it smooth a few times), then I sealed the top of the paper with two coats of the modge podge.

I finally got it done. And managed to get some photos with my real camera instead of just the phone.



Here it is, trying to look chic. I didn't have the heart to shatter it's delusional pride and break the news it was just for Legos...





Finishing the cabinet was only half the battle, though. There were now LEGOS to organize.

My kids amaze me. Nine time out of ten, I could hold up some random Lego and they knew exactly which set it belonged to. They worked on sorting them for a very, very long time. I was basically useless. They all looked the same to me.









I knew these drawers were going to hold a lot. And they did! Which is good, because the Legos were beginning to take over.





He was trying to educate me, but I just couldn't figure it all out.

We still have about 2-3 drawers worth of Legos to work through and organize. The wonderful, glorious news is that we still have over 6 empty drawers of space! I'm pretty pumped.



Yay for a little organization.

It does my heart good.

House Tour 2012: Family Room

Here we are! Moving down to the lower level of the house.

The family room.

I never really told you guys when we bought the couch down here, did I? I can't remember exactly when we did... but it was before Christmas 2011. I want to say maybe November?

You may have picked up bits and pieces of this room in the background of other photos. We've made some purchases... the sofa, a *large* television (ahem. much bigger than I thought he was going to buy!), and a table necessary to hold the bohemoth. I have a pretty clear vision for where this room is headed, but it's not there, yet. It's rather neglected right now. All the love it gets from me is in the form of ideas... and cleaning. Except, I've been playing around with bold color on the mantle. I always get sad when the Christmas decorations come down, so this was my way of combatting that this year. It's very random and very BRIGHT! I don't need that much happy happy happy now that Spring is here (yay!), so it'll probably get changed soon to something equally as random but less visually stimulating. I'm not spending any money on it at this point, though. Other rooms have their hands on the dough!

This house tour from Apartment Therapy is one of my biggest inspirations for this room's plan...

Along with a little Swedish influence. Heavy on IKEA... because we don't want to spend a mint on a room that gets used as a rough and tumble play space.

Anyway... why am I all blabby? I think just because these thoughts were all bouncing around my head as I downloaded the photos just now. Here's the family room!



The white furniture and curtains made this whole room immediately feel different. I also made sure I took these photos when the room is the brightest - between 3 and 5pm. The only "first layer" things we've done in here are the carpet and window treatments. And the windows themselves, too. That reminds me... did I ever tell you guys that when we first moved in here there were shutters on the windows?

This is a bad picture. The room was dark, but not that dark. Daddy took the shutters off for me and cleaned all the nasty old junk out of the aluminum window casing. He and Mom were such help.





So, this is a good room to see where the second layer... the major furnishings... can get you.





It's a pretty big impact, really. Personally, I think the curtains have a lot to do with it :)



We're painting a game cabinet right now. By "we" I actually really mean SweetP is painting it. She's getting pretty good at painting! The cabinet is in SpareOom and the games are here for the time being.



I stacked them all nicely, just for these photos.

You're welcome.



It's only this tidy and clean about once a week. Generally, for a few hours on Thursday afternoon (during rest time on my cleaning day). The rest of the time it looks like this...



But, actually, right now I'm sitting on the sofa in this room and it still looks like this...



Because I cleaned it this afternoon and it's my Mama Night and Sam took the kids to Chik-fil-A :) So, it's also very, very quiet. All I can hear right now is the hum of my laptop, some birdies, and a neighbor's lawnmower in the distance.

It's lovely!

This is the HOVAS sofa from IKEA. It's big! All of us can fit in a row on this puppy. And, although IKEA furniture feels stiff at first, it breaks in surprisingly well. We've had a lot of "breaking in", you know. If you'd like, I can send my kids over to jump all over your IKEA furniture to get it just right. The slipcovers have been awesome, if you're wondering. I'll talk more about how the white furniture has worked out for us so far in an upcoming post.



These pillows are just leftovers. They look kind of fun together, though, I think.



Lots of toys down here. Lots by my book, anyway. We don't really keep oodles and oodles of toys. You know I love some good therapeutic decluttering. We always give toys away before Christmas each year. There are families that need them far more than we do! And, when stuff exceeds storage space, that amounts to STRESS for me. I have some ideas of what to do with all these castles and blocks and whatnot, but it will have to wait for now.

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to wrap it all up tomorrow!

Y'all have a good night.

at least there's a little snow

I don't think I'm going to get the sunshine I wanted for good indoor photos this week. It's still overcast, but there's a little snow on the ground. That makes a huge difference in the light. Still not quite enough for great photos, but I'll take what I can get.

Snow light is one of my favorite things about winter.

Maybe one of my only favorite things about winter... once Christmas is past. Still fightin' the good fight against the winter doldrums. That last pillow from Olive Handmade came the other day.



It helps :)



There's a yellow backing that you can only see a teensy bit if you're looking from the side. Just that little peek of yellow helps, too.



The green pillows were the first to ship. The fit is just a touch wonky, but I used larger pillow forms than the seller suggested. I like the pillows full. The suggested pillow size was too wimpy and sad-looking for my tastes, so I shoved a 22" form in :) Now they're pretty much what I was wanting.



With the quilty pillow, it's probably a little too Spring-y. Oh, well. Girl needs some Spring!

Across the room from the happy, pushing-spring-too-soon pillows, this is still in progress...

Dumb bookcase.



And right beside that eyesore, the girls were working on their morning lessons...





And this little cutie was playing in her bouncy seat.





She's not crying - her super long eyelashes bother her eyes sometimes and make them water. Sugar! She is, seriously, the easiest baby ever.

Brother was downstairs watching Signing Time. Ummm... I think they were teaching the sign for "grumpy"... I hope? Maybe he just needed a snack.



He was watching it on the M.A.S.S.I.V.E new tv Sam bought on New Year's Eve.



I expected the tv purchase. It was only a matter of time. I did not, however, expect it to be so M.A.S.S.I.V.E. And did I mention that it's big?

Sam and I have a date night tonight (woot!) and we're going to IKEA. Among other things, we're planning on buying a table for the very large tv. Clearly, the current improvised table, although serviceable, isn't really adding a whole lot to the room.

We aren't going to be painting the paneling and brick in the family room just yet, but I am trying to make it a smidge more cheerful. It's been brown and dreary since we moved in... neglected while we worked on other priorities. When the Christmas tree came down, I decided the mantle needed something kind of loud and extra smiley.



I'm not sure how "me" it is... it's more "me in January" than anything else. So far so good, though. I haven't plummeted into quite my normal funk. No crying yet, even.

That makes me feel like hot stuff!

And I'm reeeaaaalllly excited to get the new table and have fun with Sam tonight :)

Lots to be thankful for :)

I took more photos than I had time to upload today. I'll share the rest next week! Have a great weekend!!!

Again With Family Room Brick

A while back, I asked for feedback concerning the idea of painting our family room brick white. I think I want to do it - I've almost decided for sure. The paneling all around the rest of the room is going to be white, though, and the upper portion of those walls will be the same shade of white. I had also sort of had it in my head that the sofa would be white (although, that's not set in stone). So, my only concern about painting the brick white, is that then we'll wind up with too much white in that room. But, as much as I try to get around it, the brick isn't a very attractive color. Hmmm. What to do?

Back in December, we decided we really needed to get some more seating down in the family room. When friends and family came over, we were all crowding into the living room. IKEA's "Tullsta" chairs are super cheap, and we figured getting them in white might give us a good visual for white with the brick while giving guests more room at the same time.



The brick is still too orange, but the contrast of the darker brick and the white chair is nice.



So, I'm wondering, what about painting the brick like a medium gray tone? Darker and grayer than the greige carpet, but light enough that I can leave the mantel wood alone and still have it looking right. Remember that we plan to spray paint that brassy fireplace screen/grill black with high-heat spray paint, too. Whatcha think?

With other projects lined up ahead of this one, we're talking September at the earliest for painting the brick, but it never hurts to think things through. Several readers (including my mom - Hi, Mom!) recommended painting the paneling and walls first and then deciding on the brick. I think that sounds very smart and we'll likely follow that plan. Still, I'm trying to picture gray brick in my mind's eye.

Thoughts?

Our Special Order Doors Are In!!!

Hot dog! The new doors are here!!!

Hoping to get them painted and hung within the week. Yes, in the picture below, the doors seem too large for the space. That's because they are. We had to custom order the doors ($) because they are sooooo short here (there's a vent that runs across the ceiling there - making the door opening extremely short). This is the smallest we could get them! Sam will have to take an additional 2" off. It's the best we can do with this weird ceiling height. There are no holes for knobs, either, because Home Depot recommended placing them after resizing the doors. Makes sense.

First, though, I have to choose a paint color... I tested SW's "Aesthetic White" on the entryway walls and "Accessible Beige" on the doors and trim. Aesthetic White turned out to be more like Aesthetic Pale Blue, so that's a no go. Accessible Beige is a definite possibility for the doors and trim throughout the entryway and family room - if the walls are whiter. Of course, this does not include the doors that will be black.

I'll be testing BMoore's "Carrington Beige" for the trim/door color next week, and also BM's "White Dove" and "Decorator's White" for the entry and family room walls.

Then, I can paint the new doors and finish up those entryway doors that I've been testing on. Hoorah for covered water heaters and furnaces :)



P.S. At risk of being really pitiful - I see you people lurking and not commenting. After yesterday's post, there were 12 people on here at one time, and no comments! C'mon, now. Make a girl's day and say something nice :)

Now, Don't Pass Out Or Anything Dramatic Like That

...'cause, believe it or not, I'm actually posting tonight!

After two entire months with zilcho updates or pics, here I am. Bonus, though, because I'm here with photos :) All of these were taken on the date of our family room carpet install, April 20th. It's really lovely. The 8 pound pad was definitely the way to go with all of that concrete beneath. It's nice and cushiony, but not too much so. And, I'm happy to report that two full months after the fact, I still love the choice we made. The carpet style and color were spot on. Whew! Here are the pics :)

Our crew checking out the progress

Laying out the pad over the primed concrete

The carpet is down! Clean up time.

Stink free and cushy underfoot!!!

I'm really thankful we could do this so soon :)