Room 2 Is Almost There!!

Hello, Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home? Oh wait that is just a flash back to my youth! OK, OK, I just needed to express that.  Indulge me if you will as I am a bit off  since we started this whole room redo business.  Can you believe I looked the "Hubs" in the eye and said ...
(and I quote) "I am nothing without my craft supplies" Oh yes, sad, I know .... but I really said that.  And what is really sad was at the time I am pretty sure I meant it.  To be honest I think I said it while I was in the garage, crawling over the snow blower to get to my sewing machine. It may have been when I was in the basement where I put all the "VIP" craft supplies and was digging out my ZING and my rolls of vinyl.  I'm not sure when I said it but I did say it.  So what seems to be happening is that all my carefully packed up craft supplies are now needed for decorating Rory's room.  So I am digging for everything and just making a mess of the boxes and the order of things. The living room and dining room are starting to look like a craft room.  The little one's bedroom is all painted and just waiting for furniture and decorations.  Rory requested a Broadway musical theme, which at first I thought would be fun and easy. True to form I have gone full blown nuts and I am now out of control.  So I go online and look for bedding that has a musical theme.  That did not go so well.  I guess music notes are not "trending" right now.  While I did see a few nice sets, none were available locally.  By locally I mean in the United States.  Sure there are some in China and Canada, but the shipping or the bulk buying made them unavailable to me.  Well then, let's just make it.  Here is a picture (minus the headboard, which is coming this week):

 How cute is her blanket?! I think the first thing I learned to make in Brownies was to tie fabric together.  With today's Polar Fleece it was a snap.  Music notes on one side and solid black on the other side, it came out great.
Next up was her window treatment.  I could not find curtains with music notes after searching for 2 days. Hobby Lobby bailed me out with some sheet music fabric that I made quick strips out of.  I bought an extra set of black sheets so that I could make the strips one side sheet music and the other solid black. Here are pictures of the windows:

How simple is that! And left over cotton sheeting to add a strip to the ready made sheet set, and a pillow too!  Here is the pic:

What's that above the window you ask? That's the awesome vinyl Broadway border we are creating (as we go, I might add) Here are some pics of our Playbill inspired vinyl wall art.

And that music staff! Wow, thanks to MTC and my ZING that is the actual notes to the song Look Down from Les Miserables. Here is a picture of that action:

 You know what my favorite part of this picture is? Why it's the fact that the same tablecloth is in my diaper cake video from 2007. See, I take care of my things! Please check back to see the finished border and room.  The furniture arrives this week and we did recycle some things from Rory's old room.  I can see how excited she is each time she peers in to see how things are going.  I feel blessed and lucky that I am able (along with the Hubs and our daughter Sam) to provide this room and space for my awesome Grand-daughter.  Did I mention she is singing a solo of "castle on a cloud" in her spring concert? My joke of the day is that I think we should make Room #3 a guest room because my craft supplies look right at home in the dinning room (after all, that's where they started out!)  Enjoy what's left of the holiday weekend and check back soon to see the finished room.Lysa

Room 2 - Started!!

Hi Everyone,
First off Happy Mother's Day Wishes to all!!  Today the family is taking the day off for some family time down at Mom's, so it's no construction day here at the homestead. Which is a good thing as I could use a breather from all the room redo stuff.  We did have a chance to get Rory's new room started.  Sam worked all week long getting the rest of her stuff out of her old room, happily filling her new space.  It does look awesome in that room.  In fact it is currently the nicest room in the house!  I was able to get into room 2 to give it a wash down and start to get the walls ready for painting.  No lie, it was a hot mess in there. When the carpet (area rug) was lifted I was a bit disappointed in how the floor has held up. Normally I would not deal with the flooring until after painting but I felt like I needed to know if I could save this floor without bringing in a professional floor company to refinish it.  Not only did I not want to spend the budget money, I want to be able to stick to my schedule and be painting next weekend. I did some fast research and online I saw many floor reviving kits.  I saw Rustoleum, Minwax & Bona.  All great brands.  I chose the Minwax for no other reason than availability.  Please know these kits are for sprucing up a floor and not refinishing.  Our floor most likely needed a full refinish but I thought I would go for the $50.00 fix just to see if it would work.  I will let you decide.  Here are the before and afters of the floor:

BEFORE

In the before you can see that there is hardly any varnish left in the high traffic area. This happened because I did not have a proper backing to the area rug and just the movement of the area rug wore away the varnish.  I won't make that mistake again.  You can see where the furniture and bed were protecting the floor.

AFTER

I took the before picture in the morning and the after in the evening.  Wow, $50.00 and a couple of hours, It sure worked for me.  I think the Minwax reviver did an awesome job!  It states on the label not for raw unvarnished wood but I am glad I gave it a try because it worked great. Now I will have to be super careful when I paint but at least I know I won't be putting in more than an area rug (this time with a proper backing).  So if all goes well but the end of next Saturday I will at least have the ceiling painted and maybe even a coat of paint on the walls.  Thanks for visiting and hope you check back soon to see what happens to this room.
Lysa

Some Final Pics of Room 1

Hi Everyone,
So as room 1 comes to a close and we begin room 2, I thought I would post a few last pics of Sam's new room.  I am sure by now she is sick of me running in there with my camera.  Sam still has a bit to move and hang and I now feel like "my work here is done" I really am happy with the way things turned out and I know I left enough "undone" so that Sam can spend some time decorating her room.  My original plan was to post a bunch of before and afters, however I lost sight of that plan about a month ago. So here are just a few more pictures to show off our hard work:

 Left to do here is the wire covers for the hanging TV and as soon as I have my craftspace back there will be window treatments in black and white stripes and runners for her dressers.

And a cute little coffee table makes for a nice seating area!


 This bookshelf was not planned for here, but it fit nicely. The closet door opens fully and when the bedroom door is open it covers less than half of the bookshelf.  The lesson here is that compromise can be good.
 

Left to do here is the third picture to the lower right of her guitar.  And yes, her clock is counter clockwise as is my lovely daughter who knows how to march to the beat of her own drum.

And what seems to be touching my heart the most is what she hasn't sold, donated or given away.  I am seeing things from her childhood that she has kept for so long.  That is my Steiff Pasha tiger and a troll doll (We call him Poppy). Both have a lot of meaning to us all in the house.
So now it is on to the next room which I am now calling the Music - Broadway room.  To be honest it has a super tight budget and I am not sure how it will come out.  But I can tell you that the little one wants that same green color as her Mom! So don't be surprised when you see this same color with a music note border.  Thanks for visiting and check back when you can as I sure can't wait to get back to some crafty goodness!
Lysa

Pictures of Progress

Hi Everyone,
Oh my it seems like weeks since we started this whole room redo business.  I guess because it has been weeks! This first room has been tough and I am at the end of my home improvement rope.  But, it's OK as things are beginning to come together.  Slow and steady we are moving forward. I won't take any time to bore with words as if I do you will surely read the "tude" in my words.  Here are some pics of Sam's new digs.  Sadly, I think we need two more weeks until she can move in.

And this is just the beginning! There are more pictures to hang on the wall so that is why the picture that are hanging seem so high.  I threw her quilt over the futon so that you could see the awesome fabric for the bedding.  Don't you love our black line on the walls?  That is quarter round and here is a close up.

Just the right touch to bring the green and white together. I hope the next time I sit down to type the room will be done and Sam will be happily filling the room with all her possessions.  Please check in when you can as I just can't wait to get back to some crafty goodness.