$40 Mudroom Makeover

My word for the year is "intentional".
I am trying to make every area of our house purposeful and lovely at the same time.

One area in our house that desperately needed a little makeover was our mudroom/laundry room.
I never really knew exactly what its purpose was.
Well, besides to hold our washer and dryer and to serve as a hallway into our garage.

We had dry erase boards and cork boards hanging up all over that made us think we were organized, but they really didn't hold much and it just looked sloppy.

Soooo . . . I called in my sweet dad to help.
We took down all the cork boards and dry erase boards and any other boards that were hanging on the wall and we put up other kinds of boards . . . like this one. 

(My dad bought the boards for less than $2.00 a piece because they were not perfect, which is fine with me.)

He sanded them and nailed two parallel to each other (horizontally)and then he put some vertical ones in between. 

You can use any measurements you want here.  We decided to create 19 inch squares (except for the area behind the door . . . that is a little wider)

*IMPORTANT* Make sure to put the nails into the studs on the bottom board because that will be where the hooks are going to go.  (lots of heavy backpacks need studs!)

It is kind of like a little section of board and batten. (I liked it in our family room so much . . . I just had to throw it in somewhere else!)


The next step was to prime the boards and then just paint everything (wall and all) under the top board white.
I just used trim paint that we already had.

Then I repainted the top section blue and hung some awesome hooks I found at Hobby Lobby.  (I couldn't find the "perfect" ones sold separately so I bought some that were attached to a board and then just unattached them) The hooks were $9.99 for each set of three.

Then we hung two hooks per 19 inch square (two for each of our three kids) and hung a black and white photo of each child over their hooks and . . . . voila!!!

Here is the UNpurposeful and UNlovely BEFORE.

And here is the purposeful and lovely AFTER.

COST:

Irregular boards  . . .about $10

Paint . . . . . . . . .leftovers

Picture Frames . . . . already had

Hooks . . . . . . . . .$20

8x10 photos . . . . . .about $10 total (from Walmart)

TOTAL . . . only $40!!!! for results that I am so happy with.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

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Project and Popcorn

My parents were here for a little while and I can't wait to show you what my dad started in the laundry/mud room!

It was in need of a makeover.

Since I love our board and batten so much in our family room, I thought we should put something like it in our laundry/mud room . . . with hooks.

Hopefully this weekend I can find some time to prime and paint it and I'll post some before and after pics for you.

I get so excited when projects are underway!  I'm tempted to stay up all night and paint, but I know that would not be wise.  Especially because Jake has two friends sleeping over tonight and Caroline has a play date coming over early in the morning.

This is totally random, but do you own a Whirly Pop?? If not . . . go buy one right now!

It makes perfect popcorn every time . . . it sure beats the microwave kind.  So good, especially with a lot of melted butter and salt on it.

I need to go and get out all of my painting gear . . .

The Family Room is Finally Finished!!

I have been reading a couple of decorating blogs lately. One of my very favorites is Layla Palmer's The Lettered Cottage.

After several months of reading Layla's creative posts, I decided that I was going to actually incorporate some of her ideas into my own home.

I decided that the family room was going to be my first adventure.
 

We ripped up the carpet (to find beautiful hardwood just waiting to be refinished) and started putting up a wall treatment called board and batten.

I am absolutely in love with the results . . . it's amazing what a little architecture can do to a room.

(I just want to warn you that if you put up board and batten, it will take you FOREVER to paint . . . it took me two complete days)

 

We splurged a little and bought a TV to mount on the fireplace. John figured out how to lower the fireplace mantel and install it on the bricks . . . I was very impressed.

I scored two of these from my sister's garage . . . one for each side of the fireplace. (thank you, Diane!)The curtains are the Matilda Curtains from IKEA . . .they were only $19.99 for two panels . . . I got 3 sets to make them look full. I hung them close to the ceiling and let them pool on the floor. I love them because they are so long and they are just so fresh-looking. 

The bamboo shades are from Target . . . $30 a piece.(we haven't painted the windows white yet)

The wall color is Benjamin Moore's Shaker Beige. (It was in "my plan" to buy tan furniture and paint the walls a grayish blue color, but that will have to wait . . . $$)

So, there ya have it . . . the finished product . . . I really love how it turned out.

(still looking for the perfect area rug)

Thank you, John, for all the hard work you put into this room.

And thank you, to my brother, Steve, and our friend, Peter, for the beautiful job you did on the board and batten.

Before and After

This summer, I have had a LOT of time to sit in my backyard while watching my kiddos swim. I've been making a list of how we can improve our yard and the back of our house.

The other day, I realized that our kitchen window could look so much better.

before

Sooo . . .now it looks like this.

after

All it took was about $30 worth of supplies. ($20 for the shutters and $11 for the shelf on clearance at Hobby Lobby . . . I already had the pots)

This is what it looks like from inside our kitchen.

Nice to look at while I'm doing the dishes and counting my blessings. :)

Sneak Peek at Family Room

OK . . . we have been very busy, so the family room is still not completed. We are loving how it looks so far, though. I kind of like taking my time to do the finishing touches. That is definitely my very favorite part.

I LOVE these curtains that I found at IKEA. (the Matilda curtains) I love how they brighten up the room and I also love that they come in a super long length so I can hang them close to the ceiling and they still have material left to pool on the floor. They are exactly what I was looking for.

* * Thank you, Kimba, from A Soft Place to Land (http://www.asoftplace.net/ ) for the idea!!* *

Aren't they lovely??

I love this fun birdhouse that my neighbor gave me for the room. (can you tell I love the color white?)

Here are the new baseboards that we put up after the board and batten was installed. (I LOVE how it turned out!)

I decided to try some vinyl letters on the wall and I was completely delighted with the results. I told John that every room in our house is soon going to have vinyl sayings on the walls. (Unfortunately, he didn't give me the OK to do that . . . shucks!)

I will post more pics soon . . . people have been asking me for "after" pictures, but I don't want to show the whole room until it is completely finished. Soon, very soon.
Oh, by the way, don't you just loooove these peonies that I got from my neighbor??? God is such an artist! Beautiful!! I am going to plant some of these in our back yard for sure!!

Please stay tuned for my family room "after" pictures. We just need to figure out how to mount a TV on a brick fireplace. Details.

Family Room Progress

OK . . . so here is what our family room looked like before we started our big project. Caroline clearly loved the way it was, but I sure didn't. No matter which way we rearranged the furniture, it just was not "right". Something had to be done.

I have decided to put up something called board and batten. I thought it would be the perfect solution to my problem. You see, there was this huge wall of dry wall on the left when you walked into the room. I just could not figure out what to do with it. The board and batten treatment was my answer!! (we decided to not just do it on one wall, but all of them)

Here is the beginning of our project (after we ripped up the ugly brown carpet! (YAY!!!)

Here is who we called in to help us (actually to do) our big project . . . my brother, Steve. (an excellent handyman, by the way . . . and he is for hire . . . and he travels to you!!)And here is who else we hired. You can't see him very well, but that is our friend Pete, also a very excellent handyman. (can you see John standing back watching??)

John learned a lot watching . . . I'm kidding . . . he did a LOT of the work, too! (especially on the floor).

I absolutely LOVE how the board and batten treatment turned out. It took me two whole days to paint. Now we are trying to figure out what color to paint above it. After that is finished, I will post some more pictures . . . stay tuned! :)