My Office

When my daughter moved back home i knew that she would take the bigger room, whew. I spent so much time fixing up this room I really didn't want anyone messing it up. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and it took me a while to get used to having an empty house. But one day I was asked if I wanted to go out after work, and my normal response had been "thanks but I need to get home" before the words come out of my mouth I waited just a second before I said " Hell ya" I didn't need to rush home or make anyone dinner. It is a weird feeling but I think I like it. Even since my daughter came back home. I haven't really changed my mode of operation. She is a young adult and if she wants to eat she can make it herself. With that being said. I worked on my next project. MY OFFICE.

I knew I needed a desk. I have bringing home alot of work and the computer cabinet that I have in my family room didn't give me alot of room for paper work.

I also need a place for my sewing machine. The little fold out table and dining room table were not cutting it anymore.So I looked on Craigslist to see if I could find anything. First I was looking for something that would fit the space I had and would function for all of the things I needed it for. I couldn't find anything. So I decided to build it myself.

Ok I had this drawer I bought from Ikea a few years back and knew i wanted to fit it under the desk for storage. So i used this and mostly the legs I bought at home depot as the guide for the height of the desk. I attached cleats to the wall to rest the desktop on and the legs would support the front of the desk.

I selected a 1/2 inch thick piece of MDF board. I know the picture is of plywood but I selected the wrong thickness. First off the thinner piece of board would have been too thin when I attached the legs. The screws would have come right thru the top. Second if I had used too thin a piece of board when my sewing machine is running the top would bounce the sewing machine right off the desk and that would have been "no bueno".

the brackets that are attached to the bottom of the desk to screw the legs in.

I screwed the table top into the cleats. You will notice that this is an L shaped desk. I was lucky that the 2 pieces of MDF fit perfectly. I didn't have to make any cuts.

I added trim to the desktop. For that I did make cuts. Yippee, for Christmas I bought myself a compound miter saw and as small the project was I was able to use it for this, but you could just as easily have used a miter box and hand saw.

I attached the trim with liquid nails and brad nailer. It is a really cheap nailer. I had to hammer them in as well, but it worked.

Primed, painted and added to holes on top for cords.

Wa La

Thanks for looking. I sure enjoyed making. Until next time. :)

Home Tour

So it's been a while since I have last posted. Let's see alot has happened; first the kids moved out (that was a big one) then I decided to sell my house (mostly because I needed to cut down on my commute to work). However, it didn't sell like I had hoped and my daughter moved back home. So I decided to take it off the market for a while until i can get a reasonable amount for it (and because i can't keep it clean while she's here)

But I had some really good pictures taken and I would love to share them with you. :)

I found that rocker on my very first trip to the Round Top Antique Festival. I got it for $35 and spray painted it black. I love that place.

There is the TV console that I rescued from the side of the road.

The dining room (just incase you couldn't tell ;) )

The kitchen. I painted the cabinets and added the beadboard to the island and sides of the cabinets. Since i am staying here for a while I am thinking about changing out the backsplash and countertops. So it's either a trip to Scotland/ Ireland next summer or countertops.....hmmmm.

The Master Bedroom. "Where the magic happens" Just Kidding. Am I the only one laughing. I have always wanted to say that ever since watching MTV cribs.

It was a pain removing all of the pink striped wallpaper from this room, but I am so glad I did. I had even tried priming the wallpaper with an oilbased primer and painting but the seams bugged me so much that I had to remove it.

The Guest Room 

 My daughters room. Unfortunately it doesn't look this cute anymore :(.
I found that quilt at an antique store in Comfort, Texas. I loved the colors so much I had to have it. It is now gracing the end of my bed. I don't think she appreciated it as much as I did. She wanted a big ugly fluffy blanket on her bed. Yuck.

Look at that lovely grass. I spent an entire weekend replacing the grass. Then a few months after this picture was taken my Home Owners Association dug up some pipe in my backyard (on the easement mind you) and messed up my lawn. They replaced the grass where they dug but not where the tractor drove the get to the pipe. :( Oh well, its growing back.

I hope that you enjoyed visiting. Since I am not selling anytime soon, I will be showing some of my latest projects.

"Cuz Baby It's Cold Outside"

Okay, so maybe winter in Houston is not quite the same as let's say....winter in Dallas ;-) but it does get chilly. Right now it's a frosty 44 degrees and the temps are dropping...brrrr. So instead of doing my walking in this cold I am going to blog about what i did with my mantle.

After all of the Christmas stuff got boxed up my mantle was looking a little bare. So when i saw Beth's winter mantle linky party I was motivated to do some sprucing up.

I brought my beautiful Santos Angel that normally sits on my bedroom dresser out to the living room to join in on the fun.

These metal plate holders hold different plates with different seasons. Right now they have these chicken plates i found at target 10 years or so ago.

I love the colors in them so i keep them up for the majority of the year.

I grabbed these decor ice skates out of my Christmas bin. I figured that was pretty wintery so i plopped them on the mantel, besides i love the colors in them and i didn't want to put them away just yet.

I hung a little snowflake garland over the mirror (lets face it It'll be the only snowflakes I'll see this winter) and wala i was done.

I didn't do very much for winter because after seeing some of the cauuute valentines mantels, these baby's are coming down soon anyway. Now I need to link up, then i am going to make some delicious hot cocoa. Is it still sugar free if i add marshmallows? Oh well, stay warm and have a fantastic New Year!!

Laundry Room mini makeover

I have spent last weekend packing up my Christmas items into nice big rubbermaid bins.

Notice how most of them don't have any lids. I don't know where they went. : - /

 My next project will be where to put them. I think that i have decided that i am going to put them in my attic, except that i need to put some plywood down and assemble some of the plastic shelves i have in the garage up there so that i can organize these bins. More on that later.

Besides those projects, I decided to do a mini laundry room (closet) makeover. I received a new washer and dryer for Christmas ( Thanks Dad )

It is awesome. My clothes dry in 30 min instead of the sometimes 3 to 4 hrs it used to take. I'm in heaven. Any who, the one thing that i noticed is that when my turbo washer is on the spin cycle everything that i have sitting on top of it eventually flys off.

So I thought what i needed was a shelf above the washer and a rod to line dry things on above the dryer. I found a large dowel at the hardware store and cut it to fit the half above the dryer. I think that there previously was one there but it disappeared somewhere. (My son always found sticks and turned them into swords. That is probably where it went.)

I added a small shelf above the washer to keep the soap from flying off and added a new laundry sign i got from a friend at Christmas.

I found a few baskets to organize some of my cleaning supplies,spare light bulbs and paper towels. I paid a total of 3 dollars at goodwill for the 2 smaller baskets. The larger one i already had, i think i purchased it from Ikea.

I LOVE my finished laundry closet. :)

Before...wa,wa,wa.

After...aaaaaaawww.

I am linking up to Metamorphosis Monday's before and after linky party.