Inspiration Ideas!

I was flipping through BHG.com (which I love) and came across this great idea for wall art! I love the black and white silhouettes! I also love the way that it looks totally classic and still creates interest with the different frames. I think I have sold the problem as to what to put on my living room wall!

I like the look of the mounted TV on the wall but 1. I don't think my walls are sturdy enough (rule of thumb in manufactured home... if it can't be thumbtacked up it doesn't need to be up). 2. The cable/xbox/dvd player cords would all be dangling along the wall and that would drive me totally batty.

But! I think I am really into this idea! Thank you BHG.com for once again your amazing inspiration. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow? hehe!

Happy Saturday!

Office Renovation.

I'm just going to say it.

Painting stripes is hard.

Difficult.

I dunno that I'm ever going to do it again. Seriously.

But they look amazing! I'm almost done with them I just have to finish the lighter colored stripes. Phew. But the ceiling is taken care of and cleaned up! My father will probably kill me once he sees that I  painted the ceiling but! Oh well.

This is the office before I started painting the wall or ceilings...

It wasn't bad or anything it just didn't scream cozy, comfy office. It was important to me to lay claim to that square footage again and have it finally be all mine. That rug is from when I very very first moved in, a gift  from a friend for high school graduation. It's a really cool rug that we found on Overstock.com but it is black and Pouka is white/grey and fluffy... I vacuum a lot. 

When we first moved in one of the things that I insisted we put into all of the bedroom closets was organizers. Partly because before it was just a long bar and a high up long shelf. For one person to store their entire life in once space I wanted to offer them a bit more storage. I'm glad I did! Now I will have somewhere to put magazine holders on those shelves as well as baskets or other items.

I started painting the dated trim around the ceiling and along the doors. The awesome thing about a manufactored home is that everything seems to have a lovely layer of plastic over it.... challenging to paint. So after about 12 coats of semi gloss I am pretty sure it's covered well enough.

I wasn't really dressed to impress as I was working on the painting but Justin announced that he had to take a photo.

"For the blog."

I couldn't deny him. I love that he likes to help me with the blog! It's a lot of fun for both of us I think. (I also hadn't realized how long my hair had gotten. WOW.)

Check out the ceiling after it was freshened up! No longer dingy and dated! It makes the ceiling feel higher and the room feels like it has a lot more light. It's great! I did find a new light fixture. It's only a Wal-Mart special for 5.00 but it'll be better then the light bulbs!

I made a huge mess in the center of the room but I have all the stripes taped off! In the top photo on the left side of the window is the colors that will be going throughout. Since I sort of did the whole stripe painting thing backward I still have to finish the white color this weekend.

I think it already feels larger! I can't wait to get it all set up and decorated! Yay! Office!

Hope everyone is having a great 4th of July weekend and staying safe! 

Laundry En Counter

I know it may seem like I've been dragging this laundry room thing out for awhile... well because I sort of have. With a limited budget you have to plan for projects to take awhile. But anyways! Remember in my previous post about the laundry room where I showed you my new washer and dryer set? They didn't look as great as they could have just sitting alone in the laundry room. That and it made it seem very dark with the darker shade on the walls and the darker red of the units themselves. Since space in a manufactured home like mine is so incredibly limited we knew that we were going to have to do something to take advantage of the real estate above the washer and dryer.

Here is what we were working with initially:

After we decided to really launch into the reno here is what it looked like without the counter and machines:

So off to Lowe's we went! 

We picked up a huge piece of particle board (which was extremely heavy too) as well as some 1"x4" to use as a support for the counter along the back. Have I ever mentioned that Justin is rather talented? My washer and dryer had the plug ins on a separate wall then the hose so we couldn't just cut one notch out... we had to cut about 4. 

Here's the counter in place! Justin didn't like that it looked like just a piece of particle board so he decided that we needed to add a piece of molding to the front to give it a more finished look. Once again he is a genius. This is what it looked like before we painted it...

And here is a after close up with the molding painted. I must say particle board soaks up paint like a lot a lot. But it looks good! It's also removable in case we need to get to the back of the units to work on them or clean etc.

Here's the up to this point finished look of the whole section! Remember to the right is the weird bump out area that I added the "built in" desk storage.

I just can't get over how great it looks! The counter top is great for folding or ironing and it helps keep all the laundry activities in the same place. I like to stand in my kitchen and just stare at the amazingness that is now my laundry room. It's almost complete! Just one more shelf to be installed and some more tweeking and adding of accessories. Oh it is pretty amazing!

Even though it has been six years since I've installed this counter top I must admit it has been a real game changer for the space and has held up really well. Here are the things I would recommend keeping in mind for a counter like this:

1. Add some sort of support between the machines for the counter top. Otherwise after time it rests right on the machines which is not necessarily good for them. Plus it keeps the washer from creeping too close to the dryer.
2. Make sure you have your dryer's vent hose well attached! We learned that the hard way and it was a serious challenge to get back there to reattach it. It also can cause the particle board to swell in places because of the additional moisture being kicked up towards the counter.
3. I would probably by a prefab counter top that matched the kitchen next time and have it cut to size. It'd make it feel like a more cohesive space.

Overall, this is still one of my favorite projects that I've ever done! I think it looks great, functions very well, and has been a big favorite of people as they come in for showings while the house is on the market. 

Any tips or suggestions you would tell people building a counter top?