Tag: DIY

Rearranging the Dining Room Hutch

This is what the hutch looks like right now:

And this was it before:

When I took everything out and laid it all on the table, it looked a little like my own personal flea market. It was fun to choose what would make it back in.

The fabric that I tacked to the back of the hutch doesn’t quite reach all the way from top to bottom, but Reprodepot sells Marimekko’s Satula by the repeat (32″) instead of by the yard, and I only bought one repeat.

I painted the little section of the wall between the buffet and the door with Behr’s “Butternut Wood”. What do you think? I like the color, but what do I paint the ceiling? The only colors in the fabric to play off of are pink and green, so pink? Or maybe a lighter shade of the green wall color?

I might go with something else… I’m not sure yet. I have some of the Amy Butler fabric that I posted here on the way, and there are still lots of other fabrics I’m considering. I do like the idea of pinning the fabric to the back of the hutch though – I think that turned out well!

March 5, 2008
Blue Bathroom, Finished!

Huzzah! Hooray! The bathroom is finished!

Most of the items are sourced in my last post, so check there if you want to know where everything came from.

So, yeah. I went with option #6, with the white vanity (Bathroom Redo [Renderings]). I was going to go for option #2 with the dark brown, but I changed my mind once we switched to the new, white medicine cabinet.

There are little vingnettes here and there, to distract you into thinking that the bathroom was not once an ugly, confused mess.

I actually think the bathroom is kinda cute now! And we did the whole thing for only a few hundred dollars, which was of course the goal. We also painted twice, which was not the goal (haha), to arrive at the lovely green we have now.

I even painted and brought the teal/turquoise color over by way of plastic bins to the storage area:

That’s “my side”. It wasn’t too bad before, but I thought “hey, why not double my work?” because that is how I roll. The frames that we had hung in our previous bathroom are up there now. They’re just ads from a British magazine (for Marks + Spencer), but I love them! I think they’re perfect over by my makeup and girly things.

Oh, and we hung a silver letter ‘B’.

‘B’ for Balch, ‘B’ for Blue, ‘B’ for Bathroom, ‘B’ for Better!

August 13, 2007
A Change of Plans

The bathroom is further along, but I’m afraid I’ve deviated a bit from the original plan!

I hated the lights above the medicine cabinet, so I bought a new fixture for $30 from Lowes. We had to take the cabinet down to install the new light, and then realized that we couldn’t put it back up. The lights wouldn’t clear the top, and there were going to be some harsh shadows.

The new plan: hang a mirror instead and add a small medicine cabinet to the right, over the toilet. I bought a mirror ($30) and a cabinet ($40) from IKEA. Oh, and I repainted.

It looks pretty good so far! The trim still needs to be primed and painted, and I haven’t done anything to the vanity yet.

July 29, 2007
eBay + Syroco

OK, I must stop bidding on Syroco items now. I had never even heard of “Syroco” until about 2 weeks ago, but apparently Syroco = awesome (but potentially very tacky).

My first treasure:

That paint just had to go. Glossy orange spray paint to the rescue! It looks so much better in a solid color – much more modern.

Er, in full disclosure… I had a bit of a mishap with the painting. Eager to get started, I decided to lay out a tarp on my front porch last night and get to work. Wind carries, lesson learned. The porch needs to be repainted, but we weren’t planning on doing so right away. Now we have an orangish porch with a big rectangle outline where the tarp was. Oops!

My second treasure (just won, hours ago):

$10 for all four! I kind of like the bronzy color of them, so I don’t know if I’ll repaint. I need to see them in person to decide. I’m quite fond of them. My husband? Not so much.

Also, I have these en route from day-lab:

I don’t think they’re by Syroco, but they’re similar, no? I must be stopped! No more carved wall hangings!

… but first I want this, this, or one of these. Mobiles don’t count, right?

June 5, 2007
Going into Details

It is so nice to sleep in an actual bedroom as opposed to the hallway! Yes, the bed is back in its rightful place… and no, we’re not actually finished.

Here’s a little before & after of the empty room:

Brandon and I started our project last Wednesday by emptying the room, ripping up the carpet, and painting the walls and the ceiling yellow. It reminded me of my grandma’s old kitchen, and I promptly repainted the walls and the ceiling taupe (“Chocolate Froth” by Behr) the next day. Two coats. Then we took up the tack strips and old baseboards, and we began laying the bamboo floor. We finished laying the floor on Friday, and we installed the new baseboards. I also painted the window and door trim white (primer + two coats of paint). On Saturday we installed the baseshoe (the finishing touch to the baseboards that hides the gap for floor expansion), and the painting was finished on Sunday.

We learned that we are not expert woodworkers. It all looked much better after we caulked the gaps and painted though!

I hung Roman shades for privacy (they’re from Target, but I actually don’t like them very much). Curtains went up next. I chose brown, but that was before we had decided to put the bed under the windows. Now I wish I had picked a different color. On Monday, I brought up an 8×10 rug to go under the bed. I wasn’t sure about it, since the whole project was centered on changing the floor (which I think turned out beautifully). We had the rug already though, and I do like the way it looks now that the room is finished. I lugged the nightstands upstairs while Brandon was at work, and that was not fun, but I was really eager to get a lot done. They were heavier than they looked.

I did wait for Brandon to return before attempting to get the bed in. We were so worried we’d scratch our lovely new floors, but we managed to get the bed in place safely. Next it was time to hang our reading lamps, which you may remember from a previous post (The Perils of Coupons).

And voila! A bedroom!

April 4, 2007
We choose you, bamboo.

A decision has been made about the bedroom floor! Brandon and I went to Lowes last night and we chose solid bamboo in a very dark brown (Jacobean). Hooray! We ordered enough for the bedroom and for the studio, so no more yucky carpet for us!

March 15, 2007