Attic of Improvement

As you can probably tell, we've gotten a lot done in a weekend. I finished the frame wall in the bedroom, reassembled the headboard after it was refinished, we put up new bamboo blinds in the living room and we also decided to clean up the garage a bit. Mostly boxes of Halloween decor and some things that we decided we didn't need in the closet if we weren't going to use them till next summer.

Scott was in the attic and I was handing him things from the garage when this little conversation happened.

Scott: "Hey, there is a bunch of trim pieces up here."
Cait: "Really? How much?"
Scott: "Quite a bit."
Cait: "Alrighty, hand it down and we can probably use it somewhere."

Little did we realize that we were dealing with close to 40 ft. of molding in pretty good shape. These are only two of them!

We decided that since they were in larger sections, they might be just what we needed to cover the odd little piece of wood that is between the original outside wall of the house and the addition drywall extension at the top. In this picture, the weird wood planks (which are white) are highlighted. Ignore the speaker wire randomly hanging out.

The planks were used to attach the two walls to each other, but were less than attractive and had bothered us from day one. Our intention was always to cover them with molding, but it was a step that was not on top of our to do list for the moment. When we found this free molding in the attic, though, it suddenly became pretty cost effective to just go ahead and get this little project out of the way.

Before we did anything, though, I took a picture of the end of one of the pieces with my phone. I wanted to make sure we weren't using crown molding or floor trim where we were supposed to be putting molding meant for a wall space. I then went inside and looked it up online, using my phone photo for reference.

Upon my first search at Lowes.com, I found it easily. Huzzah! Chair rail! We have a winner.

After taking in the price and how much money we DIDN'T spend on this project, we then headed to the garage where we evaluated how much work they needed. All four of the 12 ft pieces need a little love. You could tell that they had been up there for a while and that the original primer had been rubbing off.

We took some steel wool to them and wiped them down. Then we chose the two best looking pieces (Because we only needed to span 22 ft. wall) and set those up on two of our folding chairs (No, we don't have saw horses yet).

Then, I used a Rustoleum Universal (which is a paint and primer in one) to give them each two good coats of new paint. The transformation was pretty amazing.

Left: paint and prime/ Right: abandoned in the attic

We then used the nail gun and compressor that David and Beth let us borrow to put it all up. We did have to use a piece of wood behind the molding as a spacer to give it clearance over the gnarly stone, but that was done with a piece of 1/2 thick wood that we nailed on first.

Then, we aligned the first piece of molding and nailed it up. We were sure to keep it as lined up with the white boards as possible so that it would cover well.

When we had both pieces up, I went back and spackled the holes left behind from the counter sunk nails we used. We still need to put another coat of paint on to hide the spackle, but for now, it's just a vast improvement over the weird transition that was there before.

It's almost like it's on purpose!

Also, yay for free things!

Future's so bright, gotta wear...

The windows in our living room have been very lackluster. They had no blinds and the curtains that were up were ones that I had purchased in haste to keep us from being blinded in the mornings by the sun. They were by no means the endgame when it came to the window treatments for that room.

Unfortunately, blinds are really expensive. We really liked the idea of bamboo blinds, but those ranged from $25-$45 depending on where you were looking. Even discount places like the Garden Ridge had them, but for 3 windows, we weren't paying their (still discounted) $20 each.

So when I was taking my weekly stroll through our ReStore on Saturday and saw some light colored bamboo blinds out of the corner of my eye and I decided to take a closer look. They had 5 of them, all wrapped up and in new condition. The best part? Each one was only $5! Perfect! I grabbed three and headed home.

We put them up with a couple of screws each and took down the gray curtains. We couldn't believe the difference they made!

It makes the whole room feel brighter, and they are much easier to adjust than trying to get the curtains to allow in certain amounts of light. The piece of wood that they are directly attacked to is hidden by a flap of the curtain itself, so you can't even see where the screws are, which gives it a clean look as well.

Now that they are up, though, there is one more thing that I think would really make them look finished.

I would really like to hang white sheer or thin curtains around them. I know that they might not seem important, but besides lightening up the space even more, they make the room feel softer and they also filter the light that comes out of the sides of the curtains. I was looking for a reference for this online when I found the picture above. Apparently Young House Love used this same technique and I didn't even know till today! At least I know I'm on the right track (and how cute is Burger?).

For the time being, they are just hangin' around, lookin' awesome. They do make our TV look awful lonely, though, which makes me want to attempt something like this on that wall, but with larger frames. The offset of only having one window rather than the TV being flanked by them doesn't help, but that's why I'm hoping using larger white frames will help the balance. The asymmetry will also add interest to the wall in general.

See, I'm using art school references! Balance! Offsets! Asymmetry!

Education is important.

Hacking on the Side

If you aren't familiar with the idea of "hacking" furniture, allow me to explain.

Much like "hacking a computer program" means that you have changed the program from it's intended purpose to suit your own needs, furniture can also be changed to fit your personal style or need. This is sometimes the only route someone can choose (for oddly sized rooms or spaces), but usually this is deployed to save the furniture hacker from having to buy a more expensive piece of furniture. There are even entire websites dedicated to it, such as IKEA Hackers, where you can get tips from others who have solved their own design issues.

Lately, I have been seeing a lot of gold working its way back into the mainstream. Most of the time, it's being used on accent pieces and small tchotchkes. Some of the other places I have seen it pop up have been furniture legs. This table, for example is simple enough, but the gold legs hike the price because it's in vogue. $79.99 for a small side table? Really?!

So I came home and glanced around and saw one of the side tables we had purchased for a mere $10 a couple of months ago that had the same shape. I decided to go for the 'high end hack'. It was pretty simple. In the end, it turned out well and cost me nothing extra.

Originally, the legs were black, so I began by taking them off using an Allen wrench and these bolts on the legs.

Then I just grabbed the same can of spray paint that I had used previously on the Halloween trophies and gave them two good coats. Wait overnight for them to dry and reassemble. Easy Peezy.

What I really like is that this spray paint is slightly metallic, so It really does lend it a nice contrast. Gold is also a color that we really don't have in the living room, so it adds another layer to the space.

So there you have it, the really easy hack that I pulled off without spending a cent. Isn't is amazing what some spray paint can accomplish?