Living Room: To Sectionals and Beyond

It has been a whirl wind in my life since May, which is why I haven't posted. I guess you just find that life takes over. We spent a great deal of the summer in South Dakota with family after two huge losses in our family. My Speech & Debate Team also competed for a week in Dallas, Texas winning third in the WORLD for our debate skills. I was so proud of them! I can't take any credit for their success, they were great all without me!

Now we are also focusing on redoing our family home about a mile from where I live, we are going to be selling it. We purchased the house in 1998 and it was where my siblings and I all grew up. It will be hard to let it go.

However, it has gotten me inspired to redo my own house a bit! I want to sell but I also want to be debt free, so I am going to stick it out a bit longer so that I can be prepared for a new project. I feel like I am almost there!

So the revamping is going to start in the living room, remember what it looked like the first time we went to the place?

After the first remodel it looked a lot better! A little bit collegey for my liking. Notice the couches? That was back when I first bought the slipcovers and they looked great! I was so excited about them! That was in 2009. It also looks pretty empty to me...

Here is what it looks like nowadays! I think it's a little cluttery and I am working on cutting down on some of my knick knacks and the like. It is so easy to accumulate stuff!

I want to stream line some of the colors and add a sectional for more efficient space usage. Check out my inspiration board:

Living Room Re-Do by megmcd featuring a fabric loveseat

I have managed to find substitutions that are less expensive. I can't wait to  buy some new pillows! I am also going to try a flat weave indoor/outdoor rug for the pets to see if that helps with the animals. I have so many of them creatures.

I did find a version of the couch that is pretty close to perfect at American Furniture Warehouse (you can buy an add on to make one side longer):

Source List and Budget:

{Sectional} $700.00 (American Furniture)

{rocking chair} $50.00 (WalMart)

{Flat Weave Rug} $100 (5'7' Target)

{Accent Table} $80.00 (Target)

I also want to pick up some new baskets for the extra blankets and such. I have plenty of knick knacks, wall decor, and stuff like that so I won't need much. I'm just coming to that stage where all the expensive furniture needs to be replaced. 

Now that I have eliminated so much debt I will have the funds to be able to make some of this happen! With good choices, of course. 

What do you think?

Oh Porch, How Cheerful of You!

I love the updates that I showed you last week, so I figured I should continue that trend into the front of the house. This post is a bit picture heavy but that's because the  front of my yard is a lot larger and I like to focus on the curb appeal, I will let them speak for themselves. The first five are the "before" pictures this year, and the rest are after the new paint job and accessorizing:

Sebastian had to stay inside because he was barky, he still tried to keep an eye on things.

Ready for the after? Here you go!

To- Do List Items Finished:

• Repaint peeling paint 
• Clean the steps
• Replace old ramp with new steps
• Plant flowers
• Repaint from doors and posts
• Accessorize
• Organize seating for max functionality

Product List:

• Large lattice rug, clearance $7.48 at Target
• "Welcome" mat, Target
• Lanterns, Homegoods and IKEA
• Pillows, handmade by mama
• Assorted flowers, local Bookcliff Gardens shop
• Brown furniture, free from friend spray painted with "Espresso" Rustoleum 
• Compass art, clearance $14.38 at Target
• Blue lawn chairs, free from mama, she found them in the trash. 

What do you think of the front porch? I'm totally digging the new rug! Especially since it was dramatically cheaper than replacing all the carpeting on the front, though that does definitely still need to be done. Maybe next year. 

Dressing for the Evening

For about four months I've been living with this situation as my master bedroom night stand... let's just say... the lamp was the only good thing about that situation. 

 I searched around all the thrift stores in town trying to find something that would fit in that section and that I would be able to get to coordinate with all my other furniture that is existing. I was telling my bloggy BFF Sam that there is not one set of matching furniture in my entire house, I feel it is a personal challenge to make my thrift shop finds coordinate and appear to be intentionally put together.

Finally after several months of shopping, I came across this desk at Salvation Army, and it was in my budget! I never like to spend more than $20.00 on a piece of furniture I plan on revamping more than 90% of. And it was $19.99! Perfect.

My friend Alexa from work helped me fit it in the back of her hatchback Subaru and drove it over. I was so excited. Part of the reason it was so cheap is because of how damaged it appeared to be. That seems to be the trick the ones that actually are sturdy, but look bad or have hinges hardware hanging, are cheapest. This one looked a bit rough to an uninspired eye. :)

During my two week Spring Break (!!!) I brought it out into the living room on a Thursday while watching an HGTV marathon of Rehab Addict. I love Nicole Curtis. A lot. At this point I can bust out a paint job in just a couple hours. Strangely this guy only needed a light sanding and a lot of cleaning. 

Two or three episodes of Nicole later and I had everything but the hinges painted! I left the top part wood toned because I didn't want to make everything too matchy in the bedroom. Plus it was super duty sealed/coated on top and there was not a scratch on it. At first I was hesitant but ever since I painted my interior door I've been more adventurous.

Here's the new nightstand desk in position. I used decor that I already had around the house, the lamps have been in my room for a long time but the vintage camp chair is a cool one I found at Habitat several years ago, the vases and accessories have been collected over time. My brother lives in Durango and they have this fabulous brewery called Steamworks, every time I'm there I grab a few of their Colorado flag inspired coasters. They add a fun flair. One of my friends was visiting and was in my room and laughed at the incredible amount of books I store on my nightstands and dressers, her words: "How to tell if you're an English teacher... there's no TV in your room, and not a surface without a book."

When my friends were visiting over our two week spring break I picked up some fabulous local art. The picture on the left is a bike with books on it! Of course I love that. 

It is so nice having some space again and not keeping my home reno stuff in the corner of my room! The poor desk has already become overloaded with books. (Though I keep my tank tops in the drawers, I'm a girl with a lot of clothes lol.)

What do you think of my thrift shop redo? :)

Dining Chair DIY Update

This project is mega old but I keep forgetting to finish my post about it. But no more! I finally have to post and share these lovely things. I inherited my dining set from my aunt when I first moved into my house in 2008. It is a beautiful and very traditional solid cherry wood set with four upholstered chairs. When I first got the set you could tell the chairs had scarcely been used, partially because of the pristine ivory cushion covers. Fast forward five years and multiple roommates later... those cushions were anything but pristine.

So I took em off!

The seats were so nasty I'm embarrassed to show you, so here's the bottom of the cushion. I simply stapled the new fabric (about 4 yards from Hobby Lobby) over the old after cleaning them with bleach and stain lifters so they wouldn't stink or anything.

I didn't paint the chairs or anything, choosing instead to leave the traditional cherry. The new cushion cover looks great though! It adds some great character and subtle fun to the room. I love it!

Here's a closer shot of the fabric. I sprayed them with water repellent designed for exterior furniture. I figured it would help these hold up better. Not that I plan on taking them outside or anything like that of course.

I moved the two armed chairs over to flank the coffee bar to make it easier to maneuver around the table and use them when we need them. Since it is just my sister and I at the house we don't need all four chairs around the table, and we tend to just eat at the bar area anyway since it is farther from the animals.

I think it looks awesome! I love the fun patern and the fact that I don't have to buy a new table and chairs just because they were dirty, a staple gun and $30.00 in fabric and they were fresh and clean! Now if I could just get the leg on the table to stay connected... we'd be golden... the struggles of DIY. haha.

Easy & Cheap: DIY TV Console

Good news! The website that had been stealing my content finally removed all of it! No longer have to put up that tacky warning sign at the beginning of my posts! Much thanks to Crystal at Mobile Home Living for advocating for our little trailer trash niche!

For Christmas my parents got me a brand spankin' new 32" TV! The old monster was a 60" but it was broken and I never got around to fixing it. It was just too massive for the space anyway. Forever ago I found this old dresser at Salvation Army for $20.00 and thought it would make an excellent TV stand. I originally was going to paint it white but found I liked the honey wood color much better, sometimes less white is more.

My parents came for Christmas and my dad purchased hole saw adapters for my drill (even though he put it on my rug hot and it burned it. sad face.) The center of the dresser was perfect for the electronic components. I only have a cable box, Xbox, and Super NES game console from when we were kids. He drilled 6 holes for wires and ventilation. Electronics get HOT so they need that breathing room.

Running the wires was easy, I just slid them through the top holes. I didn't get a picture of it but I just bought a plate shelf from the thrift store (its a wire one that you can get easily at WalMart) and stacked the components on that. I learned from working at Circuit City years ago that it is better for the components not to be on top of each other, so I made sure to keep them separate, plus it increases ventilation.

And voila! No more cluttered up TV stand! All the ugly electronics are out of sight! I'd mount the TV but the walls aren't quite sturdy enough for me to be wanting to actually do that.

A reminder of the before:

The overall effect and another beautiful view of my new door:

Not too bad right? Looks all grow-ed up!

Total cost for my TV stand:

•  Dresser from Salvation Army thrift shop: $20.00
• Wire rack from thrift store (or WalMart): $2.00
• Hole saw from Harbor Freight: $11.00

Total cost for upgrade: $33.00

Way better than the $300.00 dollar set up I originally wanted from IKEA!

Trailerhood Curb Appeal

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I'm still working hard on fixing up my trailer in order to get some serious "detrashing" done. We've really made some progress so far. If you're just joining our mission check out where we started by going here, here, and here. The overall mission is to embrace the trailer. Can I get some "whooosaaahhhs?" 

Anyways! One of the biggest things that makes a trailerhood a trailer park is the fact that traditionally the exterior care of a home is lacking. Like severely. So that's what we've been working on here.

Every year I set aside about $50.00 to spend on flowers (no more than that because annuals die.) But check out the difference some well placed potted plants make when you're walking up the front steps. I bought all of my plants at a local nursery called Bookcliff Gardens. Those are sweet potato vines and spreading petunias. I think. I am not a flower expert. They were pretty. 

Last time I talked about taking the time to repaint your porch and anything else. Check it out. No peeling paint. Makes a difference. Want to see the before again? Look in the bottom left hand corner...

And now:

Totally better!

Another way to help keep your trailer (or any home really) looking sparkly is to maintain flower beds. Don't let the weeds take over and make things all nasty. Also, ignore all the hoses, I don't have a sprinkler system, too much concrete separating each of the sections of grass. Not worth it. Another thing to do is to change out the mulch once it starts looking nasty. Too expensive you say? Well at Lowe's we tend to have it on sale 4 bags for $10. That's like $3.00 a bag. It's cheap.

Keep your outdoor furniture maintained. For me that means making sure the furniture on my front porch are spray painted thoroughly every couple of years (didn't have to this year, thank all things happy) and my bench outside. This year it needed a lot of work because most of the paint was peeling. But now it looks fresh and pretty!

Maintain your hedges and keep weeds from growing up along the chain link fences that are notorious in trailer parks. Don't have a weed eater or lawn mower? Believe me there is probably a nice elderly couple who is upset about how your yard looks that would let you use theirs, or heck even do it for you. Make friends.

If you have to store stuff outside put it in cute and clever storage containers. Don't pile your garbage outside, interior furniture should stay in the interior, no one wants to see that ugly couch outside.

Feel free to add any other tips or comments about lawn maintenance. What tricks have you learned during your home-ownership adventures that may help us out?

Roommates Strike Out

****If you are seeing this content on http://manufacturedhomefacts.com/ please be advised it is there without permission! thismessybusiness.com is the OFFICIAL and only site I publish on!***

Some of you may remember a couple years ago when I painted the third bedroom in my house with stripes for a much desired office. Financially I couldn't support not having another roommate because I was still in college. Well 6 months after graduation and with having a full-time job I can finally do it. Plus another roommate would probably make me lose my marbles.

Not good.

My current roommate has the room set up like this:

After the age of 15 I feel like teddy bears on the bed is kinda weird. But hey, that's just me. I also noticed that she has all of her wall hangings hung up in a bizarre mishmash which means there is likely going to be a number of nail holes and tack holes in the walls....

Since I no longer have any more of the two colors that originally went into the stripes I have decided that they need to be redone anyway. Thankfully they are already started so it won't be nearly as hard as it was the first time. I am going to start looking at colors to get an idea of what I want to go with.

So Office/Guest Room To-Do List:

• Find a full-sized guest bed
• Build desk for under window 
• Repair walls/repaint stripes
• Create awesome storage solutions 
• Fix door/paint door/do something with the door
• DIY some wall decor

If you have any other tips or ideas for creating a good combination space in here please let me know! It will be a bit before I can get all the furniture and such that I want in there so I am open to suggestions!