Getting My Fall On...

Every year I plan to start fall decorating early and it seems I always get side-tracked. 

Some of you probably think this is early, but for people like me who hate summer, anytime after the 4th of July is open to fall decorating around here!

Do you think it's the colors of fall that make the season so warm and welcoming?

I like to add drama to the browns and golds by adding my DIY chalkboard for the background. 

I'll add my fall banner to the chalkboard as soon as it's uncovered in all the fall decor bins.

This year, half my stash of fall decor is going out the door as a donation...that's a promise!

I was moving the spring-like trough (above) out of the room when I noticed if I turned it around backwards so the words didn't show, the plain old-wood side and patched ends fit right in with the rustic fall themed colors...

So that's the entryway cabinet all dressed up for fall. I'll keep adding and taking away things until I get it the way I want. How about you? Has the fall decorating bug hit you yet?

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Home And Garden Thursday

Built-In Cabinet And Other Dreams

I might have mentioned we are blocking off an archway between the dining room and entry hallway. The reason is to increase our storage space and add a place to hang coats. 

Some people love "open concept" houses, but I'm not such a fan after living without many walls for over 6 years now.

Even before we bought the house, I knew I would want that archway blocked off.  

My idea is to put a china cabinet on the dining-room-side...sort of like this, but with doors instead of drawers as it will not be very deep.

Vintage Style Magazine, Spring 2017 issue

On the backside of the china cabinet will be a mudroom-type wall on the entry-hall side. Again, kind of like this, but without the built-in bench. We'll put a bench there that can be moved away when big things like furniture or appliances have to be moved in or out of the house. 

Old Magazine Picture. Source Unknown

I've dreamed of this for over 6 years, but first we had to put in wood floors (for the cabinet to sit on) and lots of other things on our To-Do list. Now, we're finally tackling that archway problem, and we've found a cabinetry shop nearby to do it.

Of course I gave the cabinetry guys lots and lots of magazine pictures while trying to explain my "vision" of how each side would function.  

I figured a picture is worth a thousand words...but you can believe I gave them the thousand words too -- just in case!

Despite the pictures and words, I really don't have much confidence that it will turn out exactly as I'm expecting! And I've made peace with that...really, I have. Three weeks to wait and then we'll see. Fingers crossed.

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Dishing And Digging It

Entryway Ideas On Limited Budget

While visiting in Illinois earlier this month, middle daughter (Jaysa) and I stopped by a Crate and Barrel store and spied this bench. 

We had just started working on Jaysa's built-in-bench project again and wanted to keep this bench in mind to inspire us for that project, as well as a future project of my own.  

For a long time, I've been dreaming of adding a bench and wall trim to our own entryway. Except my dream is larger, whiter, and has to be a whole lot cheaper than the over $2000 price tag this Crate and Barrel bench carried.

To give you an idea of what I'm obsessed dreaming about, here's two pictures I've been carrying for a while. These entryways are far grander than what I'm planning to do someday, but they do make me drool.

Source Unknown

Not sure where I got these pictures, but they look like they're from a professional or magazine source. If you know the source, please let me know and I'll give them the credit they deserve.

Source Unknown

When we got home from our trip, one of the first things I did was to buy this package of pine bead boards to help me figure out how to create a taller and whiter version of the Crate and Barrel bench.

These boards are tongue and groove bead board. The package says it will cover almost 9.8 square feet. Our local Home Depot carries quite a selection of sizes in varying heights. The boards in this package are 31 and 3/4 inch long.

Each tongue locks into the groove of the next board. Here's a close up of the left (tongue) side.

Here's a close up of the right (grooved) side. The boards fit together by locking and it just takes a small nail to hold them in place.

We used a similar package doing Jaysa's bench in my last post, but it wasn't bead board like this one. It also had a white finish and wasn't wood, but a wood product.

I can't wait to show you Jaysa's finished built-in bench, but she's just now putting on the last coats of paint. I'm trying to be patient as I know paint has to dry well between coats. That, and the fact that she has a lot to do in her busy life than paint. 

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Another Episode Of The Mudroom Closet Saga

Another part of the "mudroom-closet" project at middle daughter Jaysa's house is complete. I'd like to think we're near the end of this never-ending saga, but I know that's not true.

Middle daughter is developing the disease I suffer from called "Let's Complicate The Hell Out Of It."  

Let me state right here, for the record, that no one paid me to advertise the products we used nor the stores at which we bought them. 

And, to be honest, we are at best the roughest DIYers around. I suggest you use us for inspiration, but find a good - and that means competent - tutorial somewhere else on the net!

Luckily for Jaysa, her DIY construction skills are getting pretty good, her power-tool collection is growing, and (last but definitely NOT least) little Livvie is 3 and 1/2 now and not so "helpful" as she once was. Here's Livvie back in Dec 2014 standing on the old temporary bench helping... 

All this means Jaysa (using her husband Mike as her spotter) can do more project jobs herself without us. We live quite a ways apart and it's a long wait between visits. Here's where we left Jaysa and the closet on January 1st this year...

If you want to catch up, you can see the post on the original project (shelf and hooks) here, and the built-in bench project here.

Fast forward to present. A couple weeks ago, Jaysa and I set out to paint the bench, and the bottom wall of the closet, white (Behr's Swiss Coffee) to match the boards that the hooks are on. We put the first coat of primer on the wall...we paused.

Someone thought it needed a sturdier look. Maybe we all thought it needed a sturdier look. Off to Lowe's and Home Depot we went to buy a little electric saw and some boards and/or panels. The "we" included Wild Bill as our somewhat grumpy technical adviser. He was really resistant to the little Dremel Saw I had in mind.

We came home with the Dremel saw and a package of short boards with "V-Grooves" that link together. 

 When linked together, the joined boards look like this...

This is what one section looks like before joining it with other boards. Each section appears as two thin boards...

A TRUE GENIUS figured out that DIYers need packages of light-weight boards and an easy way to put them up! My kuddos go to Home Depot for carrying this product. (More about this product in another post.)

Jaysa grabbed 6-year-old Ben's water googles to make me laugh, then she pulled out her safety glasses to reassure Wild Bill no safety rules would be broken on his watch.

Since it was a small job, we improvised our cutting station by using two IKEA step stools that were handy. That saved us another trip to the store to get saw horses.

The Dremel saw only operates if the trigger is being held. It's the perfect cutting tool for a lady DIYer. As you can see, Jaysa could hold it easily in one hand when not cutting. 

Our technical adviser swallowed his pride and admitted the Dremel was a pretty good little tool. He even ordered me one from Amazon when we got home from our road trip!

This is a somewhat messy picture of the kitchen looking into the mud room area. I didn't crop it because I wanted to give you an idea of how the mud room relates to the house. Squint and you won't even see our coke and water bottles on the counters.

I hope you'll come back for my next post to see the finished bench area all painted up after two coats of primer and two or three coats of paint. 

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