5 Boys...5 Lockers

The entry closet in our house is always a disaster.

There are coats, jackets, shoes, socks, umbrellas, a vacuum, and even a fire extinguisher in there.

Something needed to change.

So I took some inspiration from Daryl and the internet.

When I visited Daryl's house earlier this year, she showed me around.

She had lockers/cubbies built in her back hallway for her children.

After a little internet search, I found some hacked Ikea bookshelves and decided to go for it.

I bought five of them, one for each boy.

The mom and dad and girl will keep their stuff in the entry closet.

The little girl is not able to put her own stuff away yet, so this seems like it will work fine.

Here is the hall I'm putting them in.

Here is the result.

It's been over a week now and there are still shoes and coats and backpacks in the lockers.

Here's to hoping this Ikea hack job lasts for a long, long time.

(I may or may not put trim on them to make them look built in. 

I'll get back to ya on that if I do!)

A Red Door

My mom got a new front door a few years ago.

It was still primer white.

When she said she wanted it painted red, I was all over it!

I used my new sprayer that I used for my sister's kitchen.

Here it is before...

 And after...

Makes me want to paint my front door red!

Salsa!

We have a very happy garden this year.

The 8-year-old boy helped me pick tomatoes today.

Then I started chopping (and crying over all those onions!).

Now we have salsa for a while.

Yum!

A Little Boy's Dream

When we moved into our old house, we had three little boys.

I built them a sandbox and they loved it!

When we moved to this house, I had five little boys.

Four years later, I finally built another sandbox for them.

This is the spot under the swingset where we wanted it to go.

And here it is!

The 13, 11, 8, and 4-year-old boys and their friends are putting it to good use.

They have built tunnels, raked it smooth, and discovered that paint brushes make great sand tools!

The Best Part

Wanna hear the best part of helping my sister remodel her kitchen?

Well, I'll tell ya...

The day after I finished the project, my 11-year-old asked if he could clean up my mess!

Um...yes!

He even took before and after pictures for you to see...

Thanks, Son!

My Sister's Kitchen

My sister's kitchen is officially finished!

It was a lot of work and a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures of the process.

We first did the floor (in the previous post),
then she painted the walls and ceiling.
We removed the doors (I took those home to paint),

added beadboard to the island,

sanded,

primed,

and painted.

We put it all back together today including new hinges and knobs.
They even replaced the hood over the stove
and removed and spray painted the metal lazy susan shelves.

Here are the before and after shots.

 And here are some of the details...

 



Ikea Flooring

I had so much fun watching my kitchen transform

that I've decided to do another one, my sister's!

She's been talking about doing her kitchen floor for a while.

I told her that I wanted to help.

We made a trip to Ikea for some laminate flooring and supplies

and got started.

Here is her floor after she removed the top layer including a subfloor layer.

(She did all the hard work, I showed up for the fun part!)

Look at this lovely linoleum that was in her kitchen when she bought the house

that she had covered up with another layer of vinyl.

Some of the original subfloor had to be replaced so we got to work

with a piece of plywood and a skil saw.

Here is the finished product.

It looks awesome and I've loved hangin' out with my sista!

P.S.  Now that the floor looks so good,

we've decided to paint the cabinets.

That project starts tomorrow!