Daphne's bookshelf

OK, i'm back! It's been INSANE moving in & having endless (though lovable) house guests. But, I do have some awesome projects and money saving tips to share so I'm going to try hard to blog a ton more :)

I saw this idea on pinterest and LOVED it! these are $4 space racks from Ikea.

We are lucky that Daph LOVES to read so I try to buy her books often. Because i'm cheap that normally means at a thrift store. I disinfect them when we get home and they are as good as new- except they have that vintage charm and we're .50 each!

I knew I didn't want the bookshelves in the unpainted look they came in. I first tried to spray paint them white, but it didn't go well- even with krylon which is made for plastic (so it should at least work on wood!) so after that fail, I painted them with a white craft paint (you know the little plastic container that costs a $1) with a 1 in foam brush. The coverage was great, but it wasn't the look I was going for- much too country cottage for my taste. So, i finished it off with yet another coat of spray paint (which meant another trip to walmart- i HATE that target doesn't sell spray paint!) and they turned out much better :) So i would recommend craft paint followed by spray paint (you can skip the first spray paint step obviously- but the craft paint works as a great primer)

What we spent:
$12 for bookshelves, $9 for craft paint and spray paint

making pillows

the little love seat we bought from urban is getting broken in (thankfully- though i think i will ask daphne to jump on it for 5 minutes every day so it can get a little softer) but, it definitely needs some pillows. I'm not a huge fan of having pillows on our other couch

(this one here- from Ikea- a wedding gift from Nic's parents) since it's leather and they just slide around. i hate that. so, i am planning on making a few pillows- though i have very limited sewing skills :)
here is my inspiration...

(for our bed or the love seat)

(love seat- probably with rorange circles instead of yellow)

(for the love seat... was saving the yellow for this beauty)

play kitchen

Ikea wish-list item turned garage sale find!
we were planning on buying this super cute wood kitchen from Ikea for daphne (probably for her birthday next January) but at $140- it's a lot to spend on a play kitchen. i think we'll spend that on our actual kitchen! (OK, not really- but it's alright to dream!)
so, i was excited when I found this play kitchen at a garage sale for $5 instead. It needed a lot of Comet cleaner but now it looks awesome and Daphne is OBSESSED! she plays with my mom's toy kitchen ALL the time so we knew she needed one. it is so cute and compact... perfect for her little bedroom! plus, it has some undeniable 80's charm. i really love it.




What we spent:
$5
Budget remaining:
$1234

daphne desk-- BEFORE!

we were planning on buying this little table from Ikea for Daphne to use in the family room-- a place to color, eat snack, play with play dough ECT all while being in the same room with me while I work. It's cute, and definitely priced right ($20 for the table and both chairs) but, i would still want to mess with it before putting it in our house- maybe some paint or stain for the wood and adding some wall paper or something else to it to make it cool.
but then... i found this little gem at a garage sale. it was a bit of a garage sale SPLURGE- a whole $15. they wouldn't let me haggle, not even a little. I got a lot of that on friday... no one would barter with me! but, i loved this desk so i took it home anyway, even for full-price. i love the wood top and i think after some cleaning, it will look good again. for all that is painted black, it looks worn and is chipping. if our house was more "shabby chic" it would be fine, but it's not. NOT at all really :) so, i am going to sand it and spray paint it (while carefully keeping the top in the wood melamine, the back in the mustard plastic and the ends of the legs chrome) one of our most favorite colors: RORANGE! (red orange, people.. it's awesome)

(daphne said when she saw this: i'll put my paper here (pointing to the little section at the top) and my crayons and markers here (at the bottom) yeah, you will daphne)

I think it's going to look awesome. watch out for the "AFTER" pictures- coming soon I hope. My dad is hating all my projects piling up in the garage- i've got to tackle some this week before i get on his bad side.

nic isn't convinced that he loves it for the family room. I am hoping this make-over will change his mind- if not.. it will be going up in daphne's room where i am afraid it will get used far less. so, we'll see. :)

What we spent: (pre makeover!)
$15
Budget remaining:
$1239

the entry

about 200 SF of our precious 1166 are in the entry way- right you as you enter our house --either from the front door (this lovely ORANGE beauty) or from our garage. [entry way also includes a coat closet, our electrical room thing (water heater ect) and our laundry room (closet)]
to maximize it's awesomeness we're replacing the builder-grade icky light fixture with this amazing one from ModLivin it's called the sputnik and we've always loved it.

it's just really, really pretty. at $295 it's a bit of a budget buster for us though. but, we've found a way to make that work! we opted for the floor model, which she gave us 20% off for making it only $233. Still, way to much to spend on a light, I'm afraid. Remember, we're not starving students anymore- but we're now starving artists. Either way, still starving. no $200 + light fixture for us. But, the awesome people at Mod Livin hooked us up! they are just keeping my paychecks (i have prints for sale on consignment there- they get 40%, I get 60%) until we have enough to pay for the light! it is SO awesome because I don't really miss the checks- they range from $50-$100 or so every 2 weeks, and now- we only have $63 left to pay on the sputnik- so it will probably be paid off with my next check- LONG before we really need it in late July!
So, I am not even counting this as part of the budget - is that fair? Well, fair or not, it's almost like a free light to me. And trust me, we'll take it.


in other news.. closing JULY 29TH!!!!! 10 am that morning we'll get the keys and then the real fun will begin! :) We'll be painting and ripping out flooring (replacing the linoleum/carpet on the main floor with wood and replacing the laminate/linoleum from the entry/powder/upstairs bath with this awesome gray tile) and then the next weekend, Nic will go to Idaho to move our stuff out of storage and into our NEW HOUSE!!! :) wow. I literally cannot wait!

backsplash UPDATE!

So, apparently this blog works MAGIC! Nic saw the lantern tile (though I had showed it to him in the past and he liked it but didn't love it) and completely changed his mind!!! So, we're going with the lantern tile from overstock. I'm thrilled!!! We're still doing light gray grout and I cannot WAIT till it's ready and I can post pictures. It's going to be awesome. http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/SomerTile-12.5x12.5-in-Morocco-2.5-in-White-Porcelain-Mosaic-Tile-Pack-of-10/4798935/product.html

kitchen backsplash

we knew we wanted to do a tile backsplash in the kitchen but finding the perfect one was hard for us. initially, i wanted to do a glass tile backsplash (like this)




but was afraid it would look dated quickly. I love the look now, but will I in 3 years? I am definitely more willing to do things that are "trendy" when they can be easily changed out- like pillows or a shower curtain. Big investments like tile we've really taken our time in picking. Finally, we've decided so I thought I'd share! (though it will be more fun to show it INSTALLED in a few months!) It looks like we'll close on our new house in 8.5 short weeks!


so we're doing this mini white subway tile (a total STEAL from overstock.com at $65 for 10 12x12 sheets- i think we'll need 2 boxes making it a little over $130 for the tile. I haven't checked on the grout yet but I'm hoping that won't be too much either :)

We're doing light gray grout- like shown here. the idea of keeping white grout clean was really daunting so gray makes me happy :)
i LOVED all the choices from overstock- i wish nic loved this one as much as I did, but someone else should buy it :) I'm pretty obsessed with that lantern pattern- i'll find a place to use it somewhere I'm sure!