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!

Kitchen Reveal

I've shown you parts of my kitchen overhaul.

Here is the before and after of the whole kitchen you've been patiently waiting for.

Here is my kitchen a few months ago...

The next picture is after new, black countertops and backsplash

and just before paint...

 I had to remove everything from the cupboards and drawers.

Here's a picture of part of my office during the painting...

And here is the after picture...

(Be sure to notice that I raised the microwave so I could see the knobs on the stove.

In the process I had to raise and move forward the cupboard above the microwave.

Then it needed new crown moulding.

 And just in case you want to see all my hard work again,

here are the pictures one more time...

Before...

 After...

I love how it turned out!



Almost there!

My kitchen is finished,

but before I show it to you,

I have to put it back together!

That's a big job.

In the meantime,

here are a couple of somethings I've been working on...

We had old, florescent lighting under the cabinets

so we updated with LED lights.

I also made my own divider for the silverware.

It has plastic liner stuff on the bottom.

No more overflowing silverware trays.

Ahhhhh!

I thought I was almost there!

If you check this blog very often,

you know that projects seldom go as planned.

Remember my five-day back yard project that took five weeks?

And my granite and backsplash that are not yet finished?

Well, to add to the list...

My four-day cabinet painting project is approaching two weeks!

The painter installed door and drawer pulls on Saturday while we were gone.

When I got home, this is what I found...

Not even close to straight or even.

Grrrr!

He used a new template he had just purchased.

After coming back Monday, he was embarrassed and had to take half the doors back

so I could have straight handles.

So...tomorrow is now the finish date.

We'll see.

I'll keep ya posted!

Almost There!

My kitchen is so close to being done!

The painted cupboard doors are supposed to come this morning.

In the meantime,

here are a few of the things I've been doing...

Changed two of these to black,

Fixed the stove so it's now the same height as the new countertop,

And took this blind apart because the strings were tangled inside.

I got to wash it while it was on the floor, too.

Final kitchen pics are coming soon!

Yay!