The Boys' Bathroom!

I have been so excited about this bathroom.  I have been wanting to re-do the boys' bathroom for a long time.  I had all of my plans... but I needed an excuse to do it.  Moving was a great excuse.

Let's start with an overall picture of the room... the colors make me smile:)

I found these free bathroom printables over at Over the Big Moon.  I just loved the simplicity of them.  I had to make a few adjustments because they didn't quite match the colors in my shower curtain.   I changed the colors in photoshop to what would work better for me.  Also, I wanted a little something different for the "wash" one and I found a cute old fashioned tub clipart that worked great!

 My oldest son was complaining that the toilet paper was too far away in the drawer, so I had to put a basket on the back of the toilet to store some extra rolls:)

 I found the shower curtain at my favorite store... Target.  I think it was part of the dorm stuff and it was on clearance for only $10.  It was perfect!

 We took the towel bar down and put up hooks... I love hooks for towels... who wants to take the time to fold a towel?  Plus the towel rack would only hold two towels and I have 3 boys.  I also really love the white towels at Walmart with the color stripe.  They are inexpensive and they come in many colors. And I really just like white towels better...

 My favorite part... and what I based the whole room on, was the scrabble wall...(the funny thing was that it was the last thing for me to finish).  I got the idea from this blog, but I can't quite figure out where the original link comes from.  I bought very thin wood at Home Depot... I think it's about 1/4"  The wood is 2.5" squares.  Then I painted it with acrylic paint and put the letters on in black vinyl.  To attach it to the wall, I used command strips.  Now that it's done, I kind of wish I would have added WIPE!

Half Table {repurposed furniture}

My Father-in-law does property management.  My hubby gets the fun opportunity of hauling off the "junk" that people leave behind when they move.  Most of the time it really is junk, but sometimes he brings things home to see if I want them.  A few weeks ago, he brought home a drop leaf table just like this...

(I did not take a "before" picture of the actual table because it had a disgusting black banana stuck to it... seriously people leave gross stuff behind).  We had been looking for a small desk to put in our living room for our laptop.  We wanted something in a central location so we could monitor the kids.  I had seen a few "half tables" awhile back on Pinterest and thought it was kind of a cool idea.  As soon as he pulled it out of the truck, I said, cut it in half!  He thought I was crazy... he always does, but he goes with my ideas any way.  We took the drop leaves off, and we cut the table in half.

 The first half we are using as a laptop desk in our living room.  It leans against the wall nicely.  We secured it to the wall with a "L" bracket under the table.

 Here's the side view.

 Here it is with a chair that I redid... an awesome yard sale treasure.

My hubby requested that he got the 2nd half to use in the office... it makes the perfect printer stand.  And I think I'll use it as a charging station as well.

Yard Sale Treasure

Check out this awesome shelf I found at a yard sale yesterday? Any ideas why I'm so excited? What do you think I'm going to do with it?
-Anisa

Patterned Paper Covered Wood Letters

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My brother built a huge shelf for my mom about a year ago. It was for her old house and was painted black. Well, it doesn't match in her new house, so a coat of primer and 4 coats of paint later, I finally got it white!
I've been busy spray painting candle holders, bookends, etc. to match her shelf. She also has a few fun antiques on it. And the fun part, was the "Believe" letters... (believe in what? I'm not sure, but she bought them several years ago and had never done anything with them... I like to think it's "Believe in God." That works for me.)
So, I traced the letters on patterned paper, cut it out, inked the edges, and mod podged it into the wood letters. Then I embellished with ribbons, buttons and crocheted flowers.
Mom loves them and that's the important thing!!!
-Anisa

Repurposed Twin Bed.... Bench!

A few months ago, a twin headboard and footboard showed up in the garage. I asked my mom what she was doing with them and she said... "making a bench." She began to explain to me that the headboard is the back of the bench, the footboard becomes the sides... so it sat for awhile... and finally this weekend I got my hubby to help me make it into a bench.
The first thing we did we measured how deep we wanted our bench to be. We wanted it to be 18" deep, so we measured 18" in from each side and marked the wood.
We then cut the footboard to length.
We then attached the two footboard pieces to the headboard to form a bench....
And we needed a place to sit. We used some scrap 1x4's that we had laying around. Make sure your bench pieces are sturdy because.... well, they have to hold your weight.
We wanted our bench to be about 18" off the ground, so with our design, it worked out to screw the wood into the top board from the bottom.... it all depends on the style of your bed.
Now I have to paint it....

-Anisa

Routing Wood

I posted about my new router a couple of weeks ago, but it came to my attention that I should tell a little more about routing wood. Keep in mind I am no expert, so if you would like a little more info, you could check out Wikipedia.

I bought my router because I wanted to make decorative edges on wood. I used it to make these photo blocks. I would also like to make my own picture frames some day... another project on my list. To make the groove in the back of the wood for the glass to fit into, you need a router. Basically a router has several different bits. Here is a picture of some of the designs that you can make with a router.

My brother also made it to use some shelves... he needed to make a groove in the wood for the bead board to slip into. It has come in quite handy around here.

So, here is the router that I bought at Home Depot. The rep for the company happened to be in the store that day and he helped me pick out the right router. I was just going to buy the router, but he suggested I get the table... I don't know how I would have been able to route the wood without the table. Basically a router has a bit in it similar to a drill bit..... it turns around and as it turns, it cuts the wood. With the table, you just slide the piece of wood along the router bit... and the table has guides to keep it straight. It is very easy to use..... and very messy. My husband showed me how to hook up the shop vac to it so that it sucks up the sawdust as you're routing... very loud, but much less messy.

It is very quick and very easy to use. I would recommend this router/table combo to anyone. I hope I answered any questions that you may have...stay tuned for my cake platter that I made with my router as well. -Anisa

Angie's Door and Anisa's Mom's Headboard

A few years ago, my mom got a new front door. She loved her front door tons and didn't want to just get rid of it, so she had my little brother make it into a headboard. It's pretty cute, isn't it?


After I met Angie, I found out that she had the same front door. That's kind of crazy, isn't it? So, here is a before picture of the headboard/door.

I love doors... especially fun ones like these!!! I would love to find a cool old door to make into a corner bookshelf for my kitchen!!!

Crown Molding Shelves

If you live in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, I have a great deal on some awesome crown molding shelves for you!!! My little brother has started a little business making these beautiful shelves.

He sells them by the foot prices... painted or unpainted. Check out his blog for details.
This black one is a huge 10 ft. shelf that he made for my mom's bedroom. How fun to have one of these shelves all along a room to display other fun crafting projects.... I think I'm going to have him make me one for my living room.

-Anisa

Craft room Storage Crates

I have a cute white desk in my craft room that I purchased on Target.com a few years ago. I love the style and simplicity of it, but the desk has open shelves on it. The open shelves are very deep and I have never been able to find the right size of baskets to fit the shelves. So, considering the fact that I love to cut wood, I decided I was going to make my own wooden crates... that way I could make them to perfectly fit under my desk.

And they fit perfectly.... it's almost scary. I only made three and now looking at the pictures, I'm wondering if I should make one more. I have my Cricut mats and paper trimmers on the top shelf and they kind of hang out so they wouldn't fit in a crate. I guess I could find somewhere else to store them so that I could have a perfectly even desk storage.
I had so much fun building them. I love it when I get to use tools and saws without my hubby's help... it's even better that he's willing to clean up my sawdust mess:)
My ultimate goal is to get this craft room organized enough that I can take pictures of the whole room and post them for you... one step at a time.... Here's a preview of one wall.