Kitchen Makeover: Part II

I recently completed the mini kitchen makeover I started just after the new year and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. You might recall I revamped my floors in a previous post that can be found here (http://wp.me/p21Kto-so) and they are holding up very well. I will mention that they do need to be cleaned more frequently because they show more dirt and pet hair but it’s not a big deal.

Next up was changing out the awful fluorescent lights. I spoke to my building handyman and confirmed that he could switch out the old box fixtures with a halogen track light. I found the Megan Chrome Four Light Track at Bellacor and thought it was very attractive as well as inexpensive and it also gives off a ton of light.  The handyman also painted the ceiling for me because the ceiling was black under the old boxes. I can’t even begin to guess how old those lights were.

Step 3 was to accessorize and make the kitchen feel a little cheerier. I found these cute Polka Dot decals (on Etsy of course) which remind me a lot of Damien Hirst’s work which I happen to love.  They were very easy to put up – just peel and stick.

And then I ordered a keep calm and carry on Poster from AllPosters.com which just makes me smile every time I look at it.

I also ordered Fiesta Canisters from Macy’s during one of their sales for my counter top to hold Ollie’s dog food and treats etc.

And finally, I needed a Multi-Device Charging Station to contain all our ipads and iphones. I like this dock because it can hold up to 6 devises at the same time and the wires are mostly obscured. This project came in at roughly $200 and I am really happy with how it turned out. The counter tops are still a sore sight but they are not as glaring to me now that there’s so much else going on.

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Kitchen Makeover: Part I

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 is going to be great and filled with so many fun projects.I just finished a really easy project that I am so excited to share with you.

The first project of the year was a quick fix on my rental kitchen. I moved into this apartment 6 years ago and while we painted and decorated and installed lighting and window treatments there wasn’t much we could do with the kitchen! I really hate the look of my existing kitchen – it’s dark and has horrible huge flourescent light boxes, the worst cheapest looking counter tops & appliances and a really old and ugly vinyl floor. The cabinets are the only things that are actually OK. We just resigned our lease and I could not bear the thought of looking at this tired space another minute. I was looking online to see if there was any cute peel and stick vinyl flooring (oxymoron!) that I could install over our existing floors. I did come across a great site that sells vinyl flooring in incredibly chic and fun patterns but they were a little pricey and based in the UK and since this is just a temporary home I wasn’t willing to commit. Everything else I saw was what you would imagine if someone said vinyl flooring – cheap looking tiles that try to seem like they are stone or granite. In my opinion I think they look really fake and I wanted to try to avoid that look all together. In my search I stumbled across a blog called the sweetest digs and loved what Gemma came up with. So I RAN out to my local Home Depot, scooped up my black and white tiles for 69 cents a piece and enlisted my husbands help in laying the tile and fitting it around the corners. It took us a few hours because of all the cuts we had to make but I LOVE how it turned out. Every time I walk into the kitchen I am happily surprised all over again at how much of a difference a little vinyl tile goes. This project cost $50 and was super simple. Now I just have to figure out what to do with my counter tops and how I can change the lighting. Do you have any great ideas on how to conceal or change my counter tops on a dime? Please share!

Here’s the kitchen before (pardon the mess):

And here it is with the new floor:

Boring Malm Dresser transforms into Fabulous Campaign Dresser

A few weeks ago I started one of the DIY projects for my “baby of the world nursery” that I installed today.  I had seen several varieties of DIY campaign dressers on Pinterest and I knew it would be perfect for this space. Basically I took an inexpensive boring MALM 4-drawer chest  and transformed it into a fabulous campaign chest of drawers. I picked this gorgeous super glossy peacock-blue color (Benjamin Moore Evening Blue #2066-20) and lightly sanded and then painted each section first before assembling the dresser. I ended up using 3 coats of paints to get an even coverage and because of the humidity it took several weeks to completely dry.

Once the paint was dry I enlisted the help of my handy hubby and brother to drill the hardware into the center of each drawer front and on each of the 4 corners of  every drawer. As you can see from the photo the hardware does not sit flush inside the drawer front because I did not have the tools to chisel out and recess the groove required. None of the other bloggers who worked on a similar project did that either (even though the hardware manufacturer says you should), so i just followed their lead. Once the piece is in the space you really can’t tell that the handle isn’t flush unless you’re standing directly in front of the dresser looking down.

My brother put the whole piece together but because the paint was still a bit tacky it ended up peeling off in some spots. Fortunately we had some leftover paint so it was not a problem to touch up.

I am so pleased with how it all turned out and I don’t think you would ever be able to tell that it was an Ikea piece!

What Ikea pieces have you transformed?

Dining Chair Round Up

Anyone with small children will tell you that they are capable of destroying anything – I speak from experience! I would advise anyone with kids to consider a dining chair that can easily be wiped down and NOT an expensive fabric covered chair. Here’s my round up of top dining chairs for families:

Amanda Leather Chair

Polaris Side Chair

Ryan Side Chair

Alden Side Chair

Eames® Molded Wood Side Chair

Saarinen Executive Side Chair

Eames Molded Plastic

Louis Ghost Chair

Saarinen Tulip Armless Chair

Brno Tubular Chair

Metal Schoolhouse Chair

Hagen Painted Chair

Forma Painted Chair

Klismos Dining Chair

3D Butterly Wall Art

In an earlier post I mentioned that my almost 5 yr old daughter Grace requested butterflies in her room. I wanted to give her something fun and whimsical but also wanted the ability to remove it when she tired of it. I decided to purchase translucent plastic butterfly decals from Butterfly Bazaar on Etsy. The butterflies ship flat and instructions say to fold the butterflies with the glossy side down. Adhere a glue dot to the center and stick it to your surface. I used an artist canvas but these can probably stick just as easily directly to the wall. After folding all the butterflies that I purchased, I sorted them by color and then started playing around with the composition until I created something that I was happy with. I stuck a glue dot on each one and in a very short time I had a custom piece of art for less than $50.

The butterflies are shipped flat like this:

Here’s what they look like once they are folded:

Trying to figure out a layout that I like:

Finished product:

 

Faux Snakeskin Ikea Lack Table

In addition to redoing my girls’ bedroom, I decided my living room needed a makeover as well. I don’t recall how I came across Emily’s blog Recently, but the moment I did I fell in love with her DIY faux snakeskin table and HAD to HAVE one of my very own. Her step by step instructions were so easy to follow. Click here for the step by step guide. Emily reused a plastic table that she picked up at goodwill. I purchased a very inexpensive LACK Sofa table from Ikea because I knew it would come in separate pieces and I thought that would be easier to work with. It’s a good shape and height but seriously lacking in personality.

I purchased this faux snakeskin fabric from Hancock Fabrics on clearance for $1.99 a yard!! Talk about a bargain.

And I scooped up some Mod Podge and a sponge brush and was ready to begin. I ran out of mod podge half way through the project so make sure you have enough. You will need to paint it on the surface of your table to make it sticky and then again on top of the fabric several times to get it to harden and shine.  ( I used two 16oz bottles for the entire project.)

My piece seemed a little rough, almost sandpaper like, when it was dry so I contacted Emily to see if she sealed her table with anything. She recommended Minwax Polycrylic finish so I applied 2 coats of once the mod podge dried.

I am beyond obsessed with my new table. Seriously, if you were to purchase this in a store you would pay hundreds, if not thousands for a similar table. A huge thanks to Emily for her inspiration!

 

Girls Reno Part II – Storage

As I mentioned in my last post about the girls’ room renovation I have been working on a few DIY projects. One of them was giving new life to a tired, sad, little storage bench that used to live in my office area and relocating it to the girls’ room to serve as their dress up station. As anyone with daughter’s knows the amount of dresses, tutus, high heels, tiaras and wands can be overwhelming if not stored properly.  Their dress up clothes used to hang on a custom Princess Dress Up Peg Rack.  While this was very cute, and easy for the girls to get their dresses and clean up afterwards, there was still the issue of  what to do with the accessories? Since everything had to come down from the walls so we could repaint I decided not to re-hang the peg rack. Instead I decided to reuse the piece from my office and freshen it up.

This is what the storage bench looked like before

The guy at the hardware store told me I wouldn’t need to prime the piece, just a light sanding with fine sand paper and two coats of Krylon Gloss white paint.

After the first coat I was a little concerned about seeing all the brush strokes. Yikes!

I waited 30 minutes and then applied the second coat. The brush strokes were vanishing and the piece was looking bright and shiny

Like most little girls mine are obsessed with all things princess. I didn’t want their room to feel juvenile so I didn’t put princess decals on the wall, or get them princess bedding, but I did want them to have something princess-y so I ordered princess decals from ebay and stuck them all over their new dress up box.

Now there’s a container each for dresses & tutus, tiaras, wands & fairy wings, and high heels. The girls love their new dress up station and I love how neatly everything tucks away out of sight.

How have you re-purposed an existing piece of furniture?

Adjust Your Facebook Settings

So I just learned from another blogger that Facebook has started to charge page administrators a fee in order to promote our updates so the updates can reach the fans.  They are asking $10 per status update.  If page administrators don’t pay the promotion fee, only 10% of the fans will see the updates in their main Facebook feed. So, if you are a Cool Cribs Online facebook fan, and would like to keep receiving posts on your news feed, then please follow these simple instructions:

Click on the Cool Cribs page and click on the wheel next to the like button.

Now select the “add to interest list” button and then select “new list”, and then “next”

You can name your list BLOGS, and add other blogs to your list by following the same procedure. Click done, and that’s it! Now any status updates that Cool Cribs makes will show up in your news feed.

Thanks to Chelsea at two twenty one for letting me know about this!

Fabric Covered Faux Nailhead Bulletin Board

Here’s an easy and inexpensive way to add character to a bland cork board.

Step 1: Purchase, or reuse existing cork board (in my case I was reusing)

Step 2: Purchase cute fabric – I liked this geometric pattern from Cedar House Fabrics and wanted something cheery to go with my new silvery/grey striped walls. Fabric cost $14 for 1 yard which was all I needed.

Step 3: Iron the fabric so there are no creases

Step 4: Position fabric on board leaving 4″-5″ all the way around

Step 5: Using brass thumb tacks start pushing tacks along edge. I think what I actually should have used was nailhead trim strips so I would have a more even effect.

Step 6: Flip board over after nailheads have been pushed in and hot glue gun the excess fabric to the back of the board.

And voila! For less than $20 (because I already had the cork board) I have a cute bulletin board that I can use for my daughters’ art and calendars etc. This project was super easy and can be customized to any space – perfect for a child’s room above a desk!

Gallery Wall

I was getting a little tired of my living room and while I would LOVE to get rid of just about everything and start fresh that’s just not happening at this point. So I decided to use what I already had and add a few new things and freshen it up a bit. I’ve been pinning gallery walls for a while and I really wanted to create one behind my sofa. I will admit I was a bit nervous about how it would turn out but I am very pleased with the results.

This was my living room before:

And here’s how it looks now:

To create the gallery wall effect I first gathered all the frames I had on various walls throughout my apartment and laid them out on a large piece of craft paper that was the length of my sofa wall in the design that I wanted.

Once I was happy with the design layout I traced around each frame and taped the paper on the wall.

Using the outline of each of the frames as my guide I measured the center of each frame and then located the position of the hanging mechanism to determine where my wall hooks should go.

Once all the hooks are in place remove the paper from the wall and hang your photos. (I made the mistake of trying to remove the paper after the pictures were up – I do not advise this.)

I used a combination of family photos, my children’s art work, mass produced prints, even framed wallpaper samples and an Hermes scarf that was hardly worn. This gallery will evolve over time. I think that it really makes a big impact on the wall and makes it much more visually interesting. The project probably took a total of about 3 hours, because I did all the hanging by myself, but the best part is that it cost me nothing because I just reused what I already had.

Closet Nook

My daughters Grace and Charlotte share a bedroom at my parent’s weekend home and the closet that was in the 100-year-old house was not at all functional. There were 2 large sliding doors that were basically falling off the hinges and the doors were so heavy that it was very hard to open. So I decided to remove the doors, paint the interior a bright pink, and put the dresser and some hooks inside to turn the wasted space into a cute, functional nook.

My husband painted the interior walls and shelf in Benjamin Moore Strawberry Shortcake 2000-40

I found these really great antique looking wall hooks on Etsy, of course, and positioned them on either side of the dresser that I repainted a few months ago. I hung them low enough so the girls have a sense of independence and can hook up their wet swim suits and robes, or hooded sweatshirts by themselves.

I reused an antique mirror that we had hanging in a different spot and placed it at the right height for the girls and added a cute lamp that used to be in Grace’s nursery when she was a baby.

I also had these custom silhouettes created by a very talented vendor on Etsy, and also found these perfect shabby chic oval frames on Etsy and installed them just above each hook.  (I was really serious when I said I was addicted.)

I added a pink and white polka dot hamper, a few pink and white striped boxes and voila! I am so pleased with how it all turned out. I think removing the doors really helped to open up the small room and I love how the bold pink on the interior compliments the pale pink walls.

Ombre

A huge trend right now is ombre (having colors or tones that shade into each other) and it’s such an easy DIY. If you have a room with an exposed radiator try painting it with several shades of one color for an awesome effect. {Just be careful if there are small children around, I would advise a radiator cover instead.}

Another super easy trick is to purchase an inexpensive unfinished dresser or desk, or reuse an existing piece you already have, and paint each drawer a different shade. The effect is fresh and unique and will match the rest of your decor.

Of course you can also always create the ombre effect with wall paint. I love the idea of a chevron ombre!

Perfect Picnic Table

When my parent’s purchased their weekend home in upstate New York – which we refer to as “the farm”- several years ago, there was an old picnic table in the back yard that stayed when the former homeowners left. The picnic table was in very poor condition so we hadn’t been able to use it.  But recently my daughter had been asking us to eat outside so my husband decided to take on this project of refinishing it. (Disclaimer – he’s a city boy with very little DIY experience). Here’s how the table looked before…

We purchased a hand sander and my husband sanded down the bench as best he could. He applied an anti wood rot product and used some wood filler in a few spots that had been eaten away.

Then it was ready to be primed…

And finally the green spray paint could be applied. The girls couldn’t wait to have their dinner outside on their “new” picnic table! My husband did a fantastic job breathing new life into this old table and I know we are going to get a lot of use out of our upcycled table.

What To Do With All Your Kid’s Art

My daughter comes home from school every day with at least one new “masterpiece” and like any good mom I ooh and aah over how magnificent it is.  Some of the pieces I have framed gallery style in my hallway outside her bedroom, and most just get stuffed into a box which is currently overflowing. I can’t bring myself to throw it out but I also don’t have the space to store every single thing she makes.

Several months ago I was watching HGTV and I saw an artist named Jan Eleni who makes these incredible collages with your child’s work. You send her the originals, she shrinks the image down and then hand cut and mounts 112 images in a 60 x 40 frame, and sends your originals back with the completed product.  I think the end result looks incredible and modern and would look great in any room, not just in the kitchen or hall.

The problem is that commissioning a piece like this is very costly. I have been trying to think of ways I can recreate this for a fraction of the price. So I have started photographing all the drawings, paintings & collages that my daughter brings home and uploading them to an “art” file on my computer. When I have enough images my plan is to create a poster collage using an online photo sharing site and then purchase a ready-made frame for it. While each individual image won’t be a 3D cutout (which I think is an amazing effect) I think the overall feel of my homemade piece will be quite similar and at a much better price.

If you don’t have the wall space for a larger piece of art like this you could always use fewer images and a smaller frame, or you could create a photo book with all the scanned or photographed images. My daughter would LOVE to have a book of her very own artwork. Plus you could create one book per child per year and I’m sure it would be something they would cherish forever.

Princess Dress Up Peg Rack

As the mother of two little girls our house is overflowing with dress up stuff – dresses, crowns, high heels, wands – it just doesn’t stop!  I wanted to find a way to neatly store all of it so that my girls could actually find what they were looking for, play with it, and then put it back themselves. Originally I was storing it all in a dress up box, but it was messy and overflowing and you couldn’t really tell what  was in there. So I turned on my computer and checked out the Etsy site (which I am completely obsessed with).  I found a vendor who created a custom peg rack with the girls’ names and princesses (of course) and had it shipped to my door within a week.

There are 2 sizes available:
~ 4 pegs: 24″ x 3 1/2″ (sticking out from the wall a little more than 3″) $32
~ 6 pegs: 34″ x 3 1/2″ (sticking out from the wall a little more than 3″) $40

Personalized Coat Rack with 6 Pegs 34 Princess by auntjjsattic

Memorial Day Makeover

Starting around memorial day weekend each year my family and I spend almost every weekend at my parent’s farm in upstate New York.  It’s a far cry from my modern city life but I really enjoy the old farm-house and antique furniture. This past weekend I decided to spruce up a sad old dresser in my daughters’ bedroom and make it a fresh, country dresser that I now adore. The dresser before was an ugly color wood, with even uglier knobs. It lacked any kind of personality at all. I wanted to paint it white and came across magic in a can called Krylon fusion.  There is no sanding or priming needed! I sprayed a total of 4 coats so I wouldn’t be able to see the wood grain through the paint, waited approximately 5 minutes in between each spray (that’s how fast this stuff dries), and then let it completely dry for about 2 more hours.

The final touch was adding these adorable antique floral knobs that we had saved from an chest or drawers.

For less than $12 and in only about 2 hours, I now have a charming dresser which is the center piece of the new closet design I’m working on.  Stay tuned to see how the rest of the project turns out….

The High Low Project

There are so many amazing children’s furniture pieces and accessories but many of them come with a steep price tag. My goal was to create a dream nursery and then recreate it on a budget. The total cost for the high budget came to $6,080. The total cost for the low budget is $2,458. That’s a $3,622 savings! How do you think they compare?

Moderne Crib by Netto Collection $1595

Nurseryworks — Loom Crib $599

Moderne Dresser by Netto Collection $1595

Moda Dressers – Room & Board $799

Eames® Molded Plastic Rocker $549

Amazon.com: Molded Plastic Rocking Chair in White $149

Blush Border Rug | Serena & Lily $775

Dhurrie Border Rug | Pottery Barn Kids $549

Brocade Peony 3-Piece Crib Bedding Set by Annette Tatum $380 (3 piece set)

Baby Crib Pink Floral & Lattice Print Bedding land of Nod $129 (3 piece set)

Pink Letter Pillow | Serena & Lily $58

Savannah Decorative Sham | Pottery Barn Kids $29

Large Cursive Wooden Hanging Letters – Cottage White by New Arrivals Inc., Wall Letters $38

White Capital Letters | Pottery Barn Kids.$10

Cottage Dollhouse Bookcase by Bradshaw Kirchofer $780

Dollhouse Bookshelf by KidKraft $159

Little One’s Table and Chairs in Fuchsia by P’kolino, $160

LÄTT Children’s table and 2 chairs – IKEA $20

P’kolino Multi-Use Art Easel $150

  MÅLA Easel – IKEA $15

Transitioning to a Big Girl/Boy Bed

When your baby is ready to transition from the crib to a bed parent’s often consider a toddler bed. I do not recommend this unless your crib can convert to a toddler bed or you have very limited space. Your child will most likely not spend more than a couple years in a toddler bed and there are ways to make a regular bed safe with guard rails. The type of bed you do purchase will depend on your design style and space. Below are some examples that range from wooden to iron, fabric headboards to bunk beds. To entice your child to stay IN the bed at night allow him or her to help select the bedding.

 Jessica McClintock Metal & Wood Poster Bed                                                          Arch Nail Button Headboard

                               

Roselyn Bed with Caning by Newport Cottages                                        Cape Cod Bunk Bed by Newport Cottages

                                 

Tufted Headboard Bed in Multiple Fabrics                                                Modern Twin over Full Bunk Bed by Country Cottage

                                 

Uptown Twin Bed – by Nurseryworks                                                   Raleigh Upholstered Camelback Bed

                         

Kids’ Beds: Kids Aqua Blue Spindle Jenny Lind Bed                          Kids’ Beds: Kids Chevron Upholstered Bed

                          

Kids Espresso Simple Bed                                                                         Kids Dark Blue Painted Walden Beadboard Bed

                          

Kid’s Storage Round Up

Isn’t it amazing that such a tiny person can accumulate so much STUFF?  Here are some really cute options to try to tame the clutter:

3 Sprouts – Storage Bins (more sizes and styles available)

 Canvas Storage | 3 Sprouts Organic  Polka Dot Peacock

Printed Canvas Storage Bins – Garnet Hill

Land of Nod: Kids Colorful Woven Floor Storage Baskets

Tubtrugs | Pottery Barn Kids

Storage boxes DwellStudio (more sizes and styles available)

 

Macbeth Collection Buckets (many patterns & styles available)

 

Bye-Bye Boring Bookcase

Want the look of a custom bookcase but don’t want to pay the custom price? Purchase an inexpensive bookcase like this one BILLY Bookcase – white – IKEA, and wallpaper the back of it. Sherwin Williams carries thousands of patterns of removable pre-pasted wallpaper which you just peel and stick! Sherwin-Williams Online Decorating Store

Design Seeds

I recently stumbled across Design Seed’s blog which i think is a great resource for anyone stuck trying to figure out a color scheme for their room. Jessica has an incredible eye for color and is able to pull together color combinations from a single image. Her site will absolutely inspire your next project! Design Seeds®: For All Who Love Color.

                                      

                                        

                        

                         

Make Room For Two!

“How can I make my child’s room suitable for two children?” I often hear this from parents who are either expecting another bundle of joy or just need to redo a space for two siblings who will be sharing a room. Since most affordable apartments in NYC aren’t huge every inch of space counts and needs to be maximized. But don’t worry! Here are 5 tips to help you design an adorable shared bedroom.

1) Use furniture to create a sense of privacy. Try a cute folding screen, an open back bookcase, or divide the space with a hanging curtain. Modular Bookshelf For Kartell – Kartell – Home Furnishings – Unica Home

2) Keep an overall color theme throughout the space. If you have a boy and girl sharing together I would suggest neutral color for the walls and flooring and pick two colors that are complimentary for bedding and accessories and if possible try to find the same pattern and use the boy and girl versions.

Kids’ Bedding: Kids Hot Pink Stripe Cotton Bedding

Kids’ Bedding: Kids Green Stripe Cotton Bedding

3) Giver your children their own personal space, no matter how small. Provide baskets for storage, or give each child a bulletin board or magnetic board so they can hang their personal artwork.

Large Round Bay Cork Board by Maine Cottage, Corkboards & Chalkboards, Decor for Children.

4) Instead of the standard arrangement of beds on opposite walls, try putting a large nightstand in the corner of the room with the head of the beds placed perpendicular to each other.

Seacliff Bedroom | Pottery Barn Kids

Or If your wall is long enough see if there’s a local carpenter who can build a simple box frame for storage below with a headboard in between and line two twin beds along one wall.

Drake Design Associates

5) If your children are old enough save floors space and go for bunk beds! (Not recommended for children younger than 6 yrs old)

Perch Bunk Bed

Books On Display

My children have so many books it can sometimes be difficult to find just the one they want to read! Here are two great solutions to make your bookshelf functional and create an ever-changing wall of artwork.

The first was built by a NYC dad for a brother and sister’s shared room based on a Martha Stewart Project

Making Children’s Bookshelves – Martha Stewart Crafts.

The second is a series of ledge shelves from Land of Nod that can be arranged to accommodate your wall space.

Kids Wall Racks: Kids Wooden Book Wall Ledge.

Straight and Narrow Book Ledge

23.75″Wx2.75″Dx3.5″H

$20 each

A Wall They Can Draw On

You love the fact that you have a budding artist in your family, you loathe the fact that your little one draws on your walls! Well, give them a wall they CAN draw on. Use chalkboard paint to transform a boring wall into a canvas for your little Picasso.

Afraid Of Color?

In theory, you like the idea of a room with color. In reality, you’re not sure. So how can you get the wow factor without the regret? Paint the back of your bookcase. Pick a bright color since you want it to really pop. Don’t worry, most of the color will be obscured by books, tchotchkes and pictures.