Functional Cozy Minimalist Entryway Updates

I wanted to share the entryway updates that we've made to make it more functional, minimalist but still cozy.  This self quarantine has me decluttering the house some more, adding and subtracting things to make the rooms more functional for our family and then decorating rooms to add the cozy, lived in feeling that we love. 

I'm going to start with the last thing that we did.  We added this cute, cubby shelf in the entryway, to display some of my animal collections.  My mom bought this shelf for me at a tag sale for .50 cents a few years ago.  I originally added casters on the bottom and drawer pulls on the side and used it to store my shoes under the bed.  It's been sitting in the basement unused since we moved into this house 5 years ago.  Over the weekend the girls and I took it apart, sanded it, stained the back piece, sealed it and put it back together.  My husband hung it up for me and now it hangs proudly in the entryway.  I love that I get to display some of the trinkets that I've collected over the years, instead of having them scattered around the house.  

The girls also helped me refinish the large piece of driftwood that we now use to hang our jackets and bags.  My husband and I found this piece of driftwood one day while talking a walk on the beach in Sag Harbor, NY.  At the time I didn't know what I was going to do with it but it was so beautiful, I just wanted to take it home with us.  The girls and I sanded it, stained it black, sealed it and my husband attached these beautiful, sturdy hooks that we purchased at Target.  

Before he hung it on the wall, we all signed the back of it. I just love the stories behind the unique pieces that we have.  It is the most vital piece in our entryway because it adds so much functionality, it gets used everyday by all of us.  We do not have a coat closet nearby.   

The chair is a $15 thrift store find from before we moved in.  I purchased it when we went under contract.  I painted in black and distressed the crap out of it to make it look like it'd been painted for years.  The seat cushion was very thin, so I added a new cushion, batting, and the taupe vinyl fabric for easy clean ups.  It can be used to put shoes on by the entryway but we really use it as extra guest seating when we have a get together.  


The plant is real.  I love plants and I love having them all around the house.  I wish I could clone this plant 6 or 7 times because it makes everything look good, and I'd put one in every corner.  The plant was in bad shape and in a broken grow pot when I found it at Lowes and the gardening associate gave me discount on it without me even asking, so that was exciting.  I purchased a new grow pot under $5 bucks and then we put it inside of this gorgeous ceramic pot that my mom gave me a couple years ago.  It was hiding in my shed waiting for the perfect plant.       
   

I almost forgot to mention that we hung this cute vintage brass key holder thing for our keys.  There's not much else to say about it.

All in all, this room is a lot more functional now, it also is a lot more minimal than it's ever been and I love that we didn't have to spend a lot of money to make it functional and cozy.  I loved having the girls help with these small re-purposing projects, it makes all these pieces more special.  They love it too because they get to use power tools.  At some point we'll repaint this room and hopefully finally get to paint the trims and doors, which is something we just haven't gotten around to.       

Black Shiplap Fireplace Wall

We finally gave our fireplace a makeover.  We decided to do an entire black shiplap fireplace wall.  I've been wanting to do something with the fireplace ever since we purchased our home but I really didn't know exactly what I wanted to do until recently.   We needed to move the TV to the wall across from our sofa and this is where things really set off for the fireplace makeover.

When we moved in I always said I'm going to paint the fireplace to give it a little makeover for now but I never got around to it.  The mantle that was there was a DIY by the previous owners and I really didn't like it.  I felt like painting it would buy us some time until we knew what we wanted and we saved for it.  I always thought I wanted built ins for extra storage and display shelves and I new that I wanted to incorporate shiplap, I also knew it would be a project that would take time and a budget needed to be in place.

When we moved the TV to the wall across the Couch (for various reasons that I will get to some other time) I suddenly knew what I wanted.  I was cleaning and puttering around the living room and I just had a vision of what I wanted so I sketched it out really quickly and sent the picture to my husband.  He really like the idea and said "let's do it!"  I love it when that happens.

 On the sketch you can see that there is no storage or display shelves like I thought I wold be adding.  In the end I knew I did not need extra storage and I don't like having too many things on display because I like it when things have a minimal, simplified, clean look.  I did however need extra seating because we removed the chairs to add a TV console.

We took some measurements and off to Home Depot we went to buy our supplies.  We went with 1"x8"x8' shiplap boards because we wanted them to be wide.  Our ceiling height is pretty short so we needed about 16 boards. to complete the wall.  We also purchased a 1x3 straight board to frame the Fireplace and keep it simple.  We used our miter saw to make all the cuts at home and our nail gun and compressor to secure the boards to the wall.  We marked all the studs, and leveled the first row at the top and worked our way down.  My husband did a great job mitering the corners of the fireplace frame.  I then filled all the holes of the nails, sanded them and we got to painting.

This is when things started to get complicated.  Getting in between the shiplaps was almost impossible even using tiny artist brushes.  My husband said it would be better if we sprayed the wall.  Since we already had all the equipment, we just went with it.   We taped up about 5 feet of wall space between the living room and the shiplap wall and sprayed it with the HVLP spray gun and compressor.  It took us a lot longer to tape up the wall than to spray but it was so worth it.  The cracks filled in nicely but I realized after I removed the plastic that grain of the wood felt rough so after we thought we were done, I decided to lightly hand sand the whole wall and give it one last coat of paint this time with a high quality roller so that the wall wouldn't have roller marks.

We also built the benches for extra seating.  We used 2"x8" wood and made very simple benches, we didn't need storage so they were very easy to build.  The hard part was making the cushions.  We bought 2" foam, 1" batting, and faux leather in a cognac color to match with the light fixtures we purchased for the wall.  We purchased everything at Joan's and used their 40% off coupons to save because foam is very expensive.  I had to learn how to use the sewing machine again and it was a pain in the tooshie but it worked out.  I even made a little curtain for the entry door that has a big window.

The light fixtures was one of those things that you make a plan but half way through you decide to make some tweaking.  In the picture I drew I originally had a plant hanging on either side.  I was looking at the wall thinking to myself that lighting would be nice and and since we don't have overhead lighting they would be functional.  I did not say anything to my husband right away because I wanted to find a way to ease in the extra cost but he literally came home from work that same day and said, "you know what, instead of plants why don't we hang light fixtures?"  I swear this guy and I are soul mates.  I shopped around and ultimately found the perfect ones at Target.  I had to go to 5 different stores in one day to find both of them and we drove an hour away to buy one of them.  Lucky for me these gorgeous fixtures were also on clearance.  They are perfect!  I love how the brass pops against the black wall and the wood base looks so good with the leather on the benches.

We went back and forth on what to hang on the middle of the wall but ultimately stuck with the ram head and we like the way it looks.  For some reason it doesn't photograph well, it looks small on the pictures but in person the scale looks perfect, and it doesn't ask for so much attention so it doesn't take away from the black shiplap.

 I scrubbed the crap out of the fireplace to remove all the soot and paint the firebox with high heat black enamel paint since we do use it in the winter months.  

I am so in love with the black shiplap fireplace wall.  I'm so happy that my husband helped me bring my vision to life, we are very proud of our hard work.  The house is slowly feeling more and more like us with every project we do.

Sources

Shiplap ~ Home Depot
Shiplap paint color ~ Gliddens Onyx black
Firebox paint ~ Rustomleum High Heat
Light fixtures ~ Threshold Target
Ceramic ram head ~ Homegoods 
Wood for benches ~ Home Depot
Bench cushions rials ~ Joan's Fabric  mate
  

To see more before pictures of our entire living room visit this post and for a full review on our Ikea Kivik couch visit this post.         

   

Sofa Makeover For The Home Office Part Two

I'm back today with Part two of the home office sofa makeover (read part one here).  I gotta be honest, I didn't think I was going to finish it so quickly.  I knew I could but I was hesitating so much because I was not looking forward to stapling a million staples with my hand held upholstery stapler.  Came Valentines day and my husband went all hero to the rescue on me.  He bought me a few tools that I've been in dire need of.  One of them was a pneumatic stapler with a 20 gallon air compressor among other tools and lovey dovey stuff like flowers etc... Yes he kinda, no, more like, he completely outdid himself.  I love that man!  Anyhow back to the couch.  And just a reminder or if you didn't see it before, here's the UGLY before that I shared back in January.

What'd I tell you?  UGLY!

This baby went by smoothly.  The air stapler was a huge help.  I started the project in the very end of January.  I sanded the body and stained it but the stain was a little blotchy.  I knew if I was going to tackle this project it had to be done right because I don't plan on doing it again any time soon.  So I took a break and didn't touch it at all in the month of February.  A few days into March I was going to have a get together for some of our family members and my house was a finished and unfinished furniture projects mess.  I had not one but two finished dressers in the entryway/home office plus the couch on it's side and the cushions were on top of our dining table.  I knew I wanted to get everything out of the way before the get together and have additional seating in the home office where the guys always have their drinks and play Domino.  So I got my butt to work.

I sanded the frame again and stained it one day and the very next day I did all the upholstery in a few hours.  I bought new 1 inch batting to add more cushion to the couch and then I did the fabric.  I wanted the ikat prints to be somewhat symmetrical so it took some measuring and centering before doing all the cutting but it wasn't  too hard.  Also I did not want to sew, so I folded all the corners as neatly as I could and pulled the fabric nice and taught until it looked good to me and stapled.  BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM......  The back is a whole different story that I don't want to go into today.  Lastly I sealed the frame with my favorite water based poly as usual.  Look at that wood grain, uh, la, la...

The next day was our get together and we had to attach the cushions back to the frame.  Holly crappola that was a pain in the tush!!!  It took us an hour and a half because the back cushions did not want to go back on.  A lot of sweating and swearing to get them back on but somehow we made it happen.   I'm just happy that I finished and it looks great!  I LOVE the fabric and my husband loves it too so I am a very happy camper.  You know what else my husband loves about this project, that it didn't cost a small fortune ;-)

Oh yes and what do you think of one of my latest Goodwill finds?  This lamp!

I bought this clear globe LED light bulb for it, that thing almost cost more than what I paid for the lamp itself.  I don't know about you but I think it looks pretty cool.   It opens up too for storage, it's pretty neat.  This room is still getting tweaked so once I'm done I'll share the whole space.  I think it's coming together really nice and we like it a lot better now than the first time around.

Here a little before and after, what a difference some stain and fabric can do.      

Vintage Bathroom Makeover

We finally finished the mini bathroom makeover.  What we thought would be a weekend bathroom makeover at most turned into a two week headache of a project.  Our bathroom is a vintage original bathroom so we ran into a lot of problems.  Every single thing that could go wrong went totally wrong and when we thought nothing could get worse it did.  Our house became a complete mess as I tackled projects for hours everyday, it seemed like we were never going to finish.  But we are finally done and we couldn't be happier with our vintage bathroom makeover.  I'm going to spare all the before pictures since I already shared them in this post.  I will, however bombard you with tons of beautiful after pics!  Are you ready?

 Let me just start with the to do list I wrote on the last post about the bathroom.

To do list

• Sand cabinet doors and drawer fronts
• Clean, de-dust, everything
• Prime ceiling, caulk trim and piece of unfinished wall (I already patched it) then prime them
• Prime cabinets and doors.  
• Replace drop in sink and faucet
• Glue fallen tiles and caulk between them and the heater.
• Paint the cabinet in gorgeous green color, I'm so excited about adding color!!!!
• Make holes for new cabinet hardware, I bought some really nice ones, I can't wait for that!
• Shop for pretty shower curtain, and figure out window treatment.
• Clean up the old light fixtures and vintage mirror, keeping those for now.  

I primed and painted everything, inside and outside.  I painted the ceiling the same color as the walls for a nice seamless look.  The door to the mini closet also got painted in the same wall color.  I debated between doing the trim the same color too but ultimately ended with white trim.  The color on the walls is Irish Mist by Behr, the same as the kitchen and dining room.  The inside of the cabinets and closet are also white.
A few details about the closet door.  I removed the handle because the entry door knob would smack in to it and it was all beat up.  I bought a door stopper, a wall protector and a latch to keep it closed.

The outside of the cabinets and the bathroom entry door is painted in Sherwin Williams Basil, I had the color matched to Behr's premium plus enamel in semi gloss.  I love this paint and the color is so lush.  I purchased new hardware and spray painted all the hinges to match.  I love, love, love the cabinets!  

We ended up purchasing a new faucet and sink because the craigslist ones didn't work.  The faucet was leaky and the sink bowl was oval instead of round and it didn't fit, it was too small.  This was the second set of sink and faucet we purchased.  The first sink was made from a material that felt too cheap so we returned it and bought a ceramic one.  The first faucet had a pop up drain and we just did not like that feature, we prefer the original drain.  Changing the faucet was the biggest headache of all.  The pipes were so corroded that they would deteriorate and fall apart just from touching them.  My husband went through so much work replacing all the pipes and it must have taken him like 8 or 9 trips back and forth to the hardware store to get everything right.  Every single thing we did took us multiple trips to the hardware store.  It was very frustrating.  The second time we went to exchange the faucet we came back home to a flooded basement and soaked bathroom.  We were starting to think this whole thing was a terrible idea.  But thankfully all of that is behind and we love our new faucet, It's a huge upgrade!  

It is so hard for me to get a good picture of the new window curtain.  I'm so proud of myself for it, I totally DIY-ed the heck out of that baby.  I used a curtain I already had, and trimmed it to size, I bought a lace curtain at goodwill for a buck plus some beaded trim at Hobby Lobby.  The shower curtain is DKNY purchased from Marshalls.  It's so light and airy in a light beige see through fabric.    

I was going to keep the old mirror and light fixtures next to it but I could not resist trying something else.  First I purchased this mirror at Goodwill but ended up using another one I already had in the living room, I spray painted it gloss black, it looks amazing!  After I painted the mirror I couldn't help wanting to paint the light fixtures too.  I took them apart in to 9,000 pieces, cleaned them and painted them gold and black.  This was one of the smallest changes that made a huge difference.  When I went to install them back up the circuit breaker kept tripping, it took me about 5 to 6 continuous hours to get them back up.  We were already contemplating buying new ones because we thought they didn't work anymore.  I really didn't want to replace them because I loved how they turned out so much.  Plus we don't have any outlet plugs in the bathroom so it's nice that they have some on them.  Painting them was the best decision I made for them.  

I purchased some other accessories such as the green ceramic planter, rug, wicker waste basket, acacia wood pump and the art print.  The planter was from Marshalls, I already had the plant, the rug is Nate Berkus from his Target line, the waste basket and soap pump is also from Target.  The print is from Etsy, I purchased a white mat for it and the bamboo frame I already had from a tag sale.  Everything else I already owned.

I still have to grout the tiles that I glued back on, this was another pain in the you know what.  It took two weeks and lots of headaches to finish the small vintage bathroom makeover, can you imagine how long it would take to do a full reno in here?  We are very happy with keeping the bathroom as is for a few years now!  I can't pick a favorite element out from this makeover, I really, truly love all the updates we did in here to make this bathroom more our style.  I love that it still feels vintage but it's definitely modernized and completely improved.  I also went above and beyond and organized all the drawers, cabinets and closet, more on that later.  I got a few compliments from guest and the biggest one is "OMG I can wash my hands in the bathroom now, you have a faucet!"  Funny fact, there was always a working faucet in here, people just didn't know how to open it, ha....

Linking up to

The Creative Circle * Charm Bracelet Diva * Creativity Unleashed * A kreative Whim * This is how we Roll * Create it Thursday *