In the Zone….

You’d think this would be a title describing a recent sporting event or the amount of snow we are supposed to get for our Zone of the country…. but no that’s not what I’m referring to….

In the zone is all about where I am decorating wise.  I am one happy clam to be re-doing our house, and coming up with ideas to make it work for us on a shoestring budget.  Why a shoestring budget?  Well, quite honestly, we have incurred some debt with this latest adoption and we have to work it back off.  So, that $1000 closet system at Ikea is not going to happen he in the Fishbowl.  (I really wish it would!)  No, instead we’re probably going to try to build a system ourselves.  I’m not sure how low we can go on the price… it all depends on the materials needed and how inexpensively I can get them.  I’m going to shoot high and say I can do it for less than $300.  That’s my hope!  I’m researching ideas now.

I’ve moved all the boys rooms around.  The two littles rooms look awesome!  I am so happy with how they are turning out!  I need to find an inexpensive rocker glider for munchkin's room so I have a chair in each one.  Then I can read stories to each boy at their separate bedtimes.  Small Fry has all the books in his room, and I will be needing a bigger bookcase.  I believe the King Fish will be building these with shelves that we took down from the playroom. (Built by the previous owner).  The only pieces I will add are crown molding and wainscoting to the back of the DIY bookcase.  I’ve already designed it in my head!  It’s going to be lovely!  (I just need to decide on a color). 

The big boys have taken over the back playroom, as their bedroom, and the smaller back playroom as their gaming area.  The drawback to this is that there are really no closets back in the playroom.  So, their clothes are still in their old room (Small Fry’s new room) and Small Fry’s clothes are in his old room (Muchkins’s room).  Confused yet? 

So that is why I am looking at ways to build a sliding closet wall for my big boys.  This will hopefully be inexpensive enough to not worry about moving it or whatever down the road.  It will go in the smaller back playroom.  I’m also anticipating getting the big boys full size beds down the road.  (Free from family.)  So, I’m going to hold off on revamping their headboards until the new beds arrive.  It may not be for awhile, but we are fine with what we have.  I’ll just hide the dated headboards with lots of pillows!!  But when the new beds arrive this is what I am planning on doing.  I found it on a blog.  I think it was remodelaholic.com  The first two photos are of a pottery barn bed (which I love!) Price: $1600 +shipping. The third photo of the grey bed is a DIY pottery barn type bed.  Made out of wood and MDF.  Price:  Less than $200.  I LOVE it!  I am sooo doing that for the boys when the new beds arrive!  Okay, I’m not exactly doing that, the King Fish is… I’m just gonna tell him how I want it, and then figure out what color I want to paint it. 

The next thing I saw while surfing the net VERY late last night was this photo.  It’s somewhat uglier than the dressers I have for my boys.  (Especially the hardware) but the overall style is similar in lines and the maple wood.  (Even the bottom is similar).  The remodel below was amazing, I almost thought it was a different dresser!

 Holy Crud!  It doesn’t even look like the same piece.  I had to check and see if the bottom was the same, and the middle part that kind of juts out.  Yep it was the same dresser!  Amazing what a little paint, antiquing and new knobs can do! 

I am so a fan of this antiquing look.  My china hutch in my dining room is similar.  I took a honey pine, totally ugly, corner cabinet and went to town several years ago.  It’s one of my favorite pieces in the house. I wish I had a better photo of the whole thing, but I’m too lazy to go and snap another picture and upload it on the computer.  This was just me goofing around with my new camera while The King Fish put up the tree in the dining room.  But it is one of my favorite things… and I love all my white china in there with the pears and the wreaths. 

 

 Back to my big boys room…. so I am determining color scheme etc.  It’s kind of tough as we really don’t have bedding yet.  I want to paint their dressers, but I don’t have a clue yet what direction to go.  That will have to wait until we chose the full size bedding.  I also have a white pedestal table up there that used to be our kitchen table.  But our family was four then and I needed a larger table with a leaf.  So this one went to the playroom.  It will now be used as a place for the big boys to do schoolwork, or build puzzles or play board  games.  Maybe even a place for lego building……  I’m pretty sure the color will change as well, but I don’t have a direction yet.

A friend of mine had a wonderful solution for Lego storage.  Her boys use large shallow boxes (the kind for underbed storage).  They are on wheels so the boys just have to wheel them under and pull them out when they want to play.  I can see The King Fish using some of that wood we took down to build two of these for their many legos!  I envision a nautical type rope on each end to help them pull it out, and a few compartments in the large trundle-like bin, so they can store the pieces they are working on separate from the many Lego pieces they have!   So, so SO much to do and so little time! 

I have one last project that I am working on that I can’t wait to reveal.  I am hoping that this coming weekend our family can finish it, and then I can post photos of it.  Oh and maybe photos of our revamped homeschool room too.  It looks SO much better now!  It’s amazing what two new bookcases from Ikea can do!! 

Until then….. ~Jackie

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