One Room Challenge Week 5 – Professional help

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

We’re heading into the homestretch on the One Room Challenge.

Next week is the big reveal of my master bedroom makeover. Here’s where we’ve come so far:

The One Room Challenge is largely about DIY. It’s not a requirement, but most of the other bloggers participating are painting, sewing, carpentering all on their own like I am.

However, last week it was time for some professional help.

One of the quirky elements of this room is that the light switch was behind the door. When we used this room as a guest room, people would always walk in and reach for the light switch. I’d have to explain that no, it’s not where you’d expect it to be. You have to reach around behind the door.

Apparently, I didn’t mind making things inconvenient for our guests, but now that we’re the ones living in the room, I wanted the light switch where it should be.

Matt and I discussed doing this ourselves, but the electrical in this house is a bit wonky. Plus, relocating the switch would involve lots of time in the attic–and lots of time with the insulation in the attic. Not fun. We also had some other minor electrical work on our to-do list, so we decided to bundle it all together and call in a professional.

When he first saw the bedroom, our professional questioned whether there was space for a switch. There’s a very narrow wall between the door and the edge of the closet. We had no way of knowing how the studs were configured. He got out his stud finder, picked a spot, and I held my breath as he punched through the drywall.

There was a narrow cavity. It was nearly the width we needed for the box, but just a bit too narrow.

Fortunately, it was close enough that a quick trim with the sawzall allowed the box to fit and didn’t compromise the stud.

Tracing the wire from the junction box in the ceiling to the switch turned out to be another bit of fun. There’s a join in the wiring somewhere, but the electrician wasn’t sure where. It looks like there’s a junction box in the closet of the bedroom next door, so that’s my guess. When we do our big whole house reno, we will definitely devote a portion of the budget to fixing all of the wiring.

Our electrician couldn’t get rid of the original switch behind the door. It’s a crowded box that appears to be feeding some other areas of the house. But a blank cover on the missing switch is something I can live with.

I’m just happy that I no longer have to live with the switch behind the door… although I still reach for it when I go into the room. This new switch, on the right side of the door, with a dimmer (can I have a hooray for dimmer switches?) is so wonderful.

The bedroom is coming together. All of the cosmetic updates are looking really good. However, this little functional improvement is equally awesome.

Thanks to our awesome electrician. And thanks to all of you for following along so far. Only one week to go!

To check out the other ORC participants, be sure to visit Calling it Home.

One Room Challenge Week 4 – Update sliding closet doors with beadboard wallpaper

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Progress picked up over the last week in the master bedroom makeover for the One Room Challenge. Mostly because for at least some of the time my workforce tripled.

Saturday morning, my parents showed up, wallpaper tools in hand. They were there to help me cover our severely beat up closet doors.

Here’s a summary of the projects so far in the master bedroom:

The One Room Challenge has been hugely helpful in getting this makeover moving after my motivation waned. The room is coming together. Which brings us to this week’s task: the closet doors.

The doors appear to have had a number of things taped to them in the past. When the tape was pulled off, so was the finish on the doors.

My decorating philosophy at the farm is every room needs touch of something rustic. This bedroom is not at all rustic, but a touch of country would be appropriate.

Beadboard wallpaper would work.

I have never installed wallpaper. I’ve removed a lot of it, but never gone the opposite direction. I figured I’d need an extra pair of hands, so I decided to make sure the hands were experienced and called in my parents.

As she was brushing the paste onto the closet doors, my Mom recalled hanging grasscloth wallpaper in their first house in the late 1970s–on trend 35 years ago and on trend today.

She also recalled cherry wood beadboard lining the stairwell at the farm where she spent summers when she was growing up. Doesn’t that sound beautiful? This wallpaper is not quite the same, but it’s a good shortcut in my opinion.

The wallpaper went up really quickly, especially with three of us working on it. (As you can see, Baxter was his usual helpful self). In less than two hours, the doors were all covered.

Even though they were white-ish before, the wallpaper makes such a huge difference. The room looks so much fresher. And the vertical stripes make the doors look wider too in my opinion.

It’s been awhile since my parents and I have worked together. It was really nice to have their help. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

I’ve been working on my own for the rest of this week, but I’ve still been productive. The headboard is almost finished–good thing because I need to get it out of the guest room so my brother-in-law can sleep there this weekend–and the electrician is here today to work on the lighting. We’re getting there!

~~Buy a new bed~~ – Done
~~Remove popcorn ceiling~~ – Done
~~Patch ceiling and walls~~ – Done
~~Paint ceiling, trim, doors and walls~~ – Done
~~Make/find window treatments~~ – Done
~~Build hookboards for behind the door~~ – Done
~~Paint dresser and replace hardware~~ – Done April 6
DIY a headboard – By April 12 19 24
~~Refresh dinged up closet doors – By April 19~~ Done April 18
Relocate light switch – Cross your fingers that the electrician doesn’t run into any problems today
Replace light fixture – I’ll get the electrician to do this while he’s here
Come up with a jewelry storage solution – By April 26
Sew a bedskirt – By May 3
Decorate and personalize – ~~Ordered prints April 6~~. I’m still waiting for them to arrive. Come on postal service!

Only two weeks to go. Visit Calling it Home and cheer on the other participants as they head into the homestretch on the One Room Challenge.

Linking up to: Happy Housie DIY Challenge Party: Patterned and Textured Projects

One Room Challenge Week 3 – Master bedroom headboard

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Today marks the halfway point of the One Room Challenge. How are we here already?

This challenge seems to be flying past. Here’s where the master bedroom has come so far:

This past Sunday was my deadline to finish the headboard. It’s not quite done–yes, I’ve already missed a deadline–but I finally made a decision, so I can show you the direction I’m going.

The headboard was the spot where I didn’t have a clear vision. Should it be painted white like the dresser? Wood like the nightstands? Upholstered?

Brown paper wasn’t even close to the list… and it will not be the final product.

The paper is my mock-up and my template.

I decided to go with… drumroll… wood.

When I took a look at my master bedroom Pinterest board, I saw some common themes in headboards: one was a camel back shape and one was a more fanciful carved shape.

I decided to give the carved shape a try. I kept it simple, using a piece of plywood that I had left over from the growth charts I made for our littlest nephews. I think the unique shape of the edge will make up for the completely flat face.

After I traced my template, it was easy to cut out the headboard with my jigsaw. I still need to add some legs so that I can attach the headboard to the bedframe, and then I’ll use iron-on edging to hide the layers of the plywood. Finally, I’ll stain the headboard to match the pine nightstands.

So there’s a little bit of progress, but a little more work to do yet.

Here’s where we’re at on the overall makeover:

~~Buy a new bed~~ – Done
~~Remove popcorn ceiling~~ – Done
~~Patch ceiling and walls~~ – Done
~~Paint ceiling, trim, doors and walls~~ – Done
~~Make/find window treatments~~ – Done
~~Build hookboards for behind the door~~ – Done
~~Paint dresser and replace hardware~~ – Done April 6
DIY a headboard – By April 12 19
Refresh dinged up closet doors – By April 19
Relocate light switch – The electrician is booked to come April 22
Replace light fixture – I’ll get the electrician to do this while he’s here
Come up with a jewelry storage solution – By April 26
Sew a bedskirt – By May 3
Decorate and personalize – ~~Ordered prints April 6~~. Fingers crossed they get here in time.

Thanks as always for following along. Visit Calling it Home to check out the progress of all of the other One Room Challenge participants.

One Room Challenge Week 2 – Master bedroom progress report

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s the beginning of week 2 in the One Room Challenge. Time for your first progress report on the master bedroom.

This makeover has been going on for a long time–longer than just the ORC. If you want to get caught up, here are the previous posts:

I’ve learned that I need schedules and deadlines if I want to complete a project in any reasonable amount of time. That’s part of why I love the ORC.

I posted my to-do list last week, but not my schedule. So to hold myself accountable, I’m going to put timelines on everything.

It may look like I’ve accomplished a lot already. Just remember this makeover has been running since Christmas.

Here’s where we’re at:

~~Buy a new bed~~ – Done
~~Remove popcorn ceiling~~ – Done
~~Patch ceiling and walls~~ – Done
~~Paint ceiling, trim, doors and walls~~ – Done
~~Make/find window treatments~~ – Done
~~Build hookboards for behind the door~~ – Done
~~Paint dresser and replace hardware~~ – Done April 6
DIY a headboard – By April 12
Refresh dinged up closet doors –By April 19
Relocate light switch – The electrician is booked to come April 22
Replace light fixture – I’ll get the electrician to do this while he’s here
Come up with a jewelry storage solution – By April 26
Sew a bedskirt – By May 3
Decorate and personalize – ~~Ordered prints April 6~~. Fingers crossed they get here in time.

The main accomplishment in the past week is painting the dresser. I didn’t realize how badly scuffed and chipped the black paint was until I started to prep for painting. It’s amazing what your eyes miss when you look at something every day.

I’m really liking how the white paint pops against the dark blue walls. The brass knobs and handles tie in with the hardware on our pine nightstands–and even better the new handles are the same dimensions as the old ones so I didn’t have to patch or drill any holes. That’s never happened for me before, and it felt like a major victory. (And yes, I know I’m missing two handles. They’re back ordered and are supposed to come in a week or two. Missing hardware seems to be a recurring theme of my ORC participation).

I think I’ve made some decisions about the headboard, so I’m crossing my fingers I can get that one done next weekend.

Thanks for following along.

And be sure to check out Calling it Home for all of the other ORC projects.

One Room Challenge – Master bedroom makeover

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s One Room Challenge time again. This will be my second time participating in the Challenge, and things are a bit different this time around.

The room I’ve chosen to make over–our master bedroom–is already part of the way there. Yes, I took a head start. But those who have been around here for a little while know that I stalled. The One Room Challenge is my motivation to finally finish it.

For those that are new here, here’s where we started–our former guest room. Pretty, ain’t it?

Here’s the inspiration (from another ORC participant, no less):

Source: Chez V (found via Little Black Door)

And here’s where we are today:

Without a deadline, I’m finding it very easy to dilly-dally my way through this makeover. So the plan is to draw up a schedule and feed off the enthusiasm of other ORC participants and get this room done.

Here’s the plan (I’m reusing some of the text from previous posts so that those of you who are new can follow along):

~~Buy a queen size bed~~ – Done, except we decided to really upgrade and went for a king size.
~~Remove popcorn ceiling~~ – Scraping the ceiling was not the funnest way to spend a day, but this job is done.
~~Patch ceiling and walls~~ – Also known as, “how I spent my Christmas vacation” (yes, Christmas. I told you this makeover has been going on too long). Patching took such a long time. Done, thank goodness.
~~Paint ceiling, trim, doors and walls~~ – I had such a hard time picking a colour, but this one is done. Chez V’s makeover made me decide to go dark and dramatic with Hale Navy.
~~Make/find window treatments~~ – This was the when the makeover stalled. I discovered I do not like making curtains. So boring. But I’m finally done.
~~Build some hookboards for behind the door~~ – Extra hanging space is always a good idea.
DIY a headboard – No idea what I’m going to do here. White? Wood? Upholstered?
Relocate light switch – Oddly, the light switch is behind the door. It’s perfectly positioned if you used the mirrored pocket door from the other bedroom to enter the master. Weird.
Replace light fixture – I have a hand-me-down brass and crystal chandelier just waiting for a home.
Paint dresser and replace hardware – We have a beat up black dresser that we bought at a garage sale. I think it can be freshened up with some nice white paint and brass hardware.
Sew a bedskirt – I have some material left over from the curtains. A bed skirt can’t be as tedious as the curtains, can it?
Refresh dinged up closet doors – It appears our closet doors spent their past life as bulletin boards, except with tape rather than pushpins.
Come up with a jewelry storage solution – Notice I didn’t say a new solution. I’ve had no solution, and tangles of necklaces are getting really old.
Decorate and personalize – It will be nice to finally personalize a bedroom. Although the giant pink ape you saw above probably isn’t the personalization I’m looking for.

And finish it all by May 7 in time for the ORC finale. Stay tuned. And be sure to check out Calling it Home for all of the fabulous makeovers–or this week the plans for fabulous makeovers.

Master bedroom move-in

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I mentioned at the beginning of the week that we made a wee bit of progress on the master bedroom makeover.

Here it is.

Yes, we have moved into our new bedroom. And obviously, Baxter is exhausted from the journey across the hall.

It’s still not done, but having our bed in the room and our clothes in the closet–and our dog on the bed–feel like major progress to me.

You may recall that this makeover started 3 months ago. Right after Christmas, I scraped the stipple ceiling. That was honestly the hardest part of the project. There’s no good reason why this is taking me so long.

The master bedroom is one of my Home Goals for 2015. One of my other Home Goals is to take it easy on the projects and not hold myself to such strict timelines as I did last year.

Obviously, I’m succeeding at the latter of those goals.

For some reason, I’m just not getting excited about this makeover. I’m hoping that will change soon though. The spring One Room Challenge launches next week. I’ve decided that finishing the master bedroom is going to be my entry.

I was super excited about the laundry room makeover that I did for the Challenge last fall, and I really enjoyed participating with all of the other bloggers.

So I’m reverting to my old ways. There will be detailed timelines, regular updates and lots of progress. (Please, let there be progress).

Until then, commiserate with me, please. Do you have a long-running makeover? Have you ever undertaken a project that didn’t seem that interesting? Any tips for pushing through?

My spin on a clothespin light

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A lot of people had compliments for the clothespin light fixture in the laundry room.

I can’t take credit for the idea or even the execution. I was inspired by this light from Young House Love.

I followed their tutorial pretty closely, and it was super easy. However, I did one thing differently and learned a couple of lessons along the way. I thought it might be helpful to share.

First the lessons.

I chose to do the same zigzag pattern that John and Sherry did. In their tutorial, they mention alternating squares. However, what they didn’t say is that they also skipped a row of wire between each row of pins. If you look closely at the pictures in the YHL post, you’ll be able to see the pattern. Skipping every other row gives a comfortable amount of space between the pins so that they lay at a nice angle all the way down the shade. And this makes the great pattern on the ceiling when it’s lit up.

And talking about laying at an angle, in the YHL post, Sherry emphasized that it’s important to have an even number of squares around the top to maintain the pattern all the way around the shade. However, she didn’t talk about how many squares there should be from top to bottom. I nearly trimmed the bottom row of mesh off my shade because I had an empty row of squares. However, if I’d done that, my bottom row of clothespins would have hung straight down while all the other ones sat at an angle. Having an extra row of wire at the bottom holds the pins on the angle. So, while you want an even number around the shade, you want an odd number from top to bottom.

And now for what I did differently.

My light is closer to a flush mount than the YHL pendant. I used an old single socket lamp holder that I had lying around as the actual light. You can’t get more basic than that. Or cheaper. (Or, let’s be honest, uglier).

It took me a little while to figure out how to attach the shade to the light. I didn’t love the cup hooks on the YHL fixture. My solution was to run two pieces of wire loosely across the top of the shade. I then looped each wire around the screws in the lamp holder. It’s pretty much invisible, unless you’re standing directly underneath the fixture looking up.

The YHL light used 320 pins. Mine has 288. The final dimensions are 64 squares around and 17 from top to bottom. The overall dimensions of the drum shade are 11 inches high by 14 inches in diameter.

I love that I have a light fixture made out of clothespins in the laundry room. Even better, I love how it looks. Thanks John and Sherry for the inspiration.

Have you ever made anything out of clothespins? Have you made your own light fixture?

Linking up to #DIYLightingChallenge

8 tips for building furniture out of pipe

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Pipe furniture is really popular these days. In the laundry room, you saw how I used pipe fittings to build the hanging rack and towel bar. Along the way, I learned a few lessons that I’m going to pass on to you.

1. Pipe fittings are really easy to work with. The pieces go together very quickly. Assembling the towel bar probably took all of 10 minutes. I loved lego as a kid (who am I kidding, I still do), and this was like revisiting my childhood.

2. Pipe fittings are oily. The fittings come in black or galvanized options. I chose the black because it looks more rustic to me. However, the black coating rubs off really easily.

Before I could do anything with the fittings, I had to clean them. Some people online recommended degreaser, which I’m sure would have worked. I didn’t have any so I tried 2 other options: wiping them down with vinegar (didn’t really work) and washing them with dish detergent. The washing worked. I dried the pipes with a rag and let them sit for 24 hours to make sure the threads and interior of the pipes were completely dry before I did anything with them.

3. Pipe fittings come in different diameters. Pay attention to what diameter you choose, because different size pieces won’t screw together without special fittings. I chose the 1/2 inch size because it was a bit cheaper than 3/4.

4. Pipe fittings come in different lengths and connectors. You should be able to find the pieces you need for pretty much any project…

5. … But if you can’t, the store staff can cut the pipe too. The cutting was one of the dirtiest operations I’ve ever seen. I felt bad for making the staff person get so oily from running the cutting machine. The result though was the perfect lengths of pipe. The machine will also put threads onto your pipe.

6. Pipe fittings don’t screw together fully. You’ll see the threads at each joint.

7. Drywall screws are good partners with pipe fittings. The pipe flanges attach to the walls with four screws. Since I chose black pipe, it made sense to use black screws. The coarse threads on the drywall screws dig into the wall and hold the pipe securely.

8. Attach the flanges to the wall first. Once your towel bar or hanging rack or whatever else you’re building is fully assembled, it can be hard to reach the screw holes in the flanges to attach your creation to the wall. However, attaching the flanges on their own is a piece of cake.

I elected not to paint my pipe fittings, although I’ve seen other projects online where people did. The finish isn’t pure black, but it’s a nice industrial dark grey–no sparkle here.

Just in case you’re interested in building your own towel bar or hanging rack, here are the pieces I used. I have to give credit for the hanging rack design to Angie over at Knick of Time. I’m not sure what pieces she used, but I think mine turned out pretty close. I spent a lot of time in the pipe fitting aisle at Home Depot. While my measurements may not be exactly the same as what you need, some of them might work for you and save you at least a bit of time.

Towel bar

Dimensions: 10 3/4 inches long (from the outer edge of each flange) and projects 3 inches off the wall

2 flanges
2 elbows
2 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 6-inch piece

Hanging rack

Dimensions: 50 inches long, hangs down 10 1/2 inches from the ceiling and projects 17 inches off the wall

4 flanges
2 elbows
2 Ts
2 3 1/2-inch pieces
2 4-inch pieces
2 15-inch pieces
1 48-inch piece

And just in case laundry isn’t your thing, here are some of my other favourite pipe projects.

Sources (top row left to right) The Brick House, The Cavender Diary, Endless Acres Farmtiques, FunkTastik (Etsy) (bottom row left to right) Margot Austin via Decor Pad, Zazu Restaurant from Irene Turner, Bob Vila, Vintage Industrial via Miniature Rhino

If you’ve spent any time on Pinterest, you’ve probably seen furniture, lights, shelves and numerous other things made out of pipe fittings. They add a great industrial style for a pretty reasonable price.

Have you ever made anything out of pipe? Do you have any tips to share? Anyone want to make anything out of pipe? Do you like the rustic industrial look?

Laundry room makeover

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

You saw the before and after of the laundry room last week. What you didn’t see was the cabinet hardware. Well, it finally came in. Between the sparkle of my new pulls and having an SLR camera for the weekend, I decided to reshoot the laundry room photos. You don’t mind do you?

Thanks for your patience with my laundry room infatuation.

Laundry room before and after

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s time for the reveal in the One Room Challenge. Back in September, I was really excited to start making over the laundry room. At the beginning of October, I was really excited when I joined the One Room Challenge to help keep me on track. Today, you’re going to see how far the laundry room has come. (And, yes, I’m still really excited).

This makeover was all about simple upgrades.

I converted the cabinets to a shaker style by adding strips around the border. A black and white paint scheme freshened them the rest of the way. We’re still missing the hardware on our cabinets. They’re special orders and are taking their time coming in. So just imagine sparkly chrome knobs and cup pulls, would you? (I’ll post an update when the hardware finally arrives).

Fresh paint on the walls, ceiling and trim–and fresh baseboard all the way around–brought the laundry room up to the same standard as the rest of the basement.

Then it was on to a few fun projects.

A light fixture made out of clothespins.

Look at the great pattern it makes on the ceiling when it’s all lit up.

To keep the wood tone accents going, I added a few baskets to the top of the free-standing cabinet Matt and I found a few months ago. I also made a simple hook board to hang the ironing board on the side.

To save electricity, we hang dry most of our laundry. (Yes, we’re just that green… and cheap). Only sheets, towels and dog beds get the privilege of the dryer. The white metal drying rack is a key feature of the laundry room. I made an additional hanging rack out of pipe fittings to help with the drying.

I also made a small towel bar out of some more pipe fittings.

The picture above also gives you a glimpse of one of the main decorations in the laundry room. When it came to art, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to put on the walls. Then I found this little enamel pot at Value Village.

It holds packets of washing machine cleaner, and it also reminded me that I had a small collection of enamel basins. My sisters, brother and I played with these dishes all the time at my grandparents’ cottage. When my grandmother sold the cottage, the basins were going to be thrown out. I was feeling sentimental, so I took them, although I wasn’t sure when I’d ever use them. Well, it turns out they work perfectly as decorations in the laundry room. They may have crossed over from rustic to rusty, but I still think they add a nice touch.

Hanging the basins facing out took a couple of tricks. First I needed a really long nail. I found some 5-inch spikes. The nails were too big to drive with just a hammer, so I drilled a pilot hole into the studs before I hammered in my nails. Once I hooked the basins on the nails, it turned out that their centres of gravity were a bit crooked. Some adhesive strips on the back stuck them to the wall and straightened them right up. For the rectangle basin, a couple of L brackets made a discreet and secure shelf.

The other item decorating the wall is also both sentimental and non-traditional art. These are the sleepers that newborn Matt wore when he came home from the hospital the first time. (I know, awwwwwwww). His Mom gave them to us years ago. Again, I had no idea what I was going to do with them. Then I realized that the red and navy stripes picked up some of the colours I was using elsewhere in the laundry room. I’ll likely end up building a proper shadow box for them, but the mini hanger works for now.

On the counter under the window, I have a few appropriately laundry decorations: an old washboard from my parents and a small red toy iron that my Mom had when she was a little girl.

It may have been a simple makeover, but the results feel dramatic to me. It’s a pretty, personal, fun and functional space.

Thanks to Linda at Calling it Home for organizing the One Room Challenge. I’ve now crossed another room off my Home Goals 2014 list. Thanks to all of you reading along for all of your support and encouragement throughout. Be sure to pop by Calling it Home to see all the other rooms.

How many people dream of a pretty laundry room? Does anyone else collect enamel ware? Have you ever made anything out of clothespins or pipe fittings? Who else air dries their clothes? What’s the most unusual thing you’ve hung on a wall?

Linking to: Happy Housie Get Your DIY On: Wall Decor