DIY Home Renovations Update- The Master Bedroom...

DIY Home Renovations - Master Bedroom Project Girl Fu

This is the view from the doorway from the
living room into the bedroom. 

 Our first order of business was too get rid of as much 'debris' as possible, as we could, when we could.  Luckily, Brian is a 'tree guy' (he's a climber, and it's possible that in the next few days I'll even have some video of him climbing a tree, with his climbing spikes on, and of him repelling back down... and I've been waiting a long time to get such a video)... but I digress, luckily, Brian's boss has a truck and a trailer and is a real good guy too, so he's been doing a lot of trips to the dump for us on their 'down time.'...

So while I wish the kids bedroom could have come first and foremost, and we did at least get it 'cleaned out', what I already had 'furniture' for was my living room, dining room, and master bedroom... so that's where we started. (After what we had to get done outside to keep the Code Enforcement guys appeased after the fire- those pics in a soon to come blog post)...

In our last post, we took a look at what had been done in the living room... today, we'll take a look at my bedroom- the before pics, what we've got done so far, and what else we're planning to do later (and when)....

More Before Pics for the DIY Home Renovations - Master Bedroom ...

In the pic above, we have the 'Before' pic with the view from the doorway from the living room/dining room, into the bedroom.

This is another before pic view from the doorway from the living room/dining room into the bedroom...

And this is the before pic view from inside the closet, into the room...

 We didn't have a bed frame, so we put pallets down.  We didn't even cut them either.  Poor Brian has hit his shin on those things so many times... 

DIY Home Renovations- Master Bedroom First Update Pics

And here's what it looks like as of March 26, 2018.

The view from the living room/dining room doorway into the bedroom. 

View from the closet into the room...

The Bedding... Not DIY

The comforter is not what I wanted, but after looking everywhere, including a huge fabric store, for what I do want, (a gold comforter... no pattern, no design, just a nice, shimmery gold color)... I found this at Family Dollar and they were having a sale for $10 OFF 'Any Comforter'... it's reversible, and the other side is multiple colors, so I turned it to the side it's on in the pic for 'as plain as I can get'.  One day, I'll do a DIY Comforter that I 'want'... for now, my room at least doesn't look like a 'total hodgepodge.' 

The Window Dressing- a little DIY...

And since I was there anyway, I looked at their curtains (I got the ones for the living room at the same time too) and I found these.  The living room curtains were 'one panel per package', and they had just 'davits' that go through any 'bar' curtain rod... but these in my room, were two panels with an attached valance. 

And here's the DIY part...

That works fine for the window to the back porch, but each of the two windows on the side of the bed are pretty narrow and so we were able to actually 'cut' one 'curtain' (with the valance) into two...

Once we cut it, we had two panels and two valances, but then we needed to hem the valances, which Sherry graciously did for me, using some kind of 'glue tape' that she ironed on.

I used to have a metal canopy bed frame, but it was for a queen size bed and I have a king size now.  I still have all the metal pieces from the old canopy bed though and although I was going to use them for 'curtain rods', (eventually painting them white and gold, maybe with Fleck Stone paint to go with my 'Greek Mediterranean' look that I envision for this room)... I'd just bought a 'bushel' of bamboo sticks from Ollies for $.99 per bushel... so Sherry just ran the bamboo right through the hole in the curtain and valance on the big window, and that one was done.

We still have the two valances for the other two windows, I just need to figure out a way to get them 'up' there... since the 'bamboo stick rod' has the curtain on it now... so I either need to add another stick for the valance, or find a way to 'tack' the valance' to the existing one and the curtain, which I'll probably do tonight, and make a whole separate post about.

The nightstand lamps came from my neighbor's garage sale.  She only lives two doors down and she garage sales an a regular basis, so I stop by often to see what she has.  I had been on the hunt for dishes the day she had these lamps, so I asked her what she wanted for them and she told me to take them.  We're like family, so she 'gives' me a lot.. tells me, "Just take it."  (Especially if she knows I really need it.)

And the picture over the bed was one we found (with a few others) one day at the curb of a house someone was cleaning out.  Even if I don't like the 'artwork', I'll always take 'art' that people are throwing away for the frames if nothing else.

View from the head of the bed toward the wall that separates the bedroom from the living room/dining room.  

(That's a 'stray pillow case and sheets basket on the bottom and the never matched socks basket on the top of that one, in the corner. Once sorted out, and a home found for them, they'll be gone.   To the right of those laundry baskets is the door from my bedroom to my back porch, which used to be screen and vinyl enclosed, and may be again one day.)

The armoire, dresser, and nightstand came from a hotel that was remodeling last year.  We picked up a lot of furniture from that hotel last summer and it's been stored in various places in the house ever since.

As you can see, the dresser is missing two drawers... they had gotten 'moldy' sitting in my garage.  So I'd set them outside intending to spray them with bleach, let the sun dry them out, scrub them out, and then bring them in... but... it rained and they got destroyed.  So, my next plan of attack is to take the other two out and just leave it 'open'... until I get 'the bedroom set that I want.'

I found the tv on either OfferUp or LetGo...  I had wanted to get each kid their own flat screen tv that was either HDMI or "Smart" so they could each hook up their gaming systems and not fight over who gets the tv or who gets to play what... and I wound up getting all 3 for such great deals that now I have one for my bedroom too!

This is the view from that side of the room, towards my closet (now very organized, though not quite perfect yet... will be once I'm caught up on ALL the laundry.) 

Still to do...

We still need to replace that door frame, and that door along with quite a few other doors in the house, but that's a project for later.

We also still need paint, carpet, a new ceiling fan and to fix a hole in the ceiling.... but those are all projects for later too.  (We'll replace all the ceiling fans in the house at one time, fix all the holes in the walls and ceilings at one time, etc.. the goal for now is to get the house livable as a home)...

What we've done so far, and how...

The blanket on the floor is an old blanket that we just put down for Vision (The Regal German Shepherd) for now.

I'm planning a DIY doggie bed for him for later too.

For now, my bedroom looks great.

My living room looks 'mostly great', I just need to get the boys bedroom(s) done to get their stuff in there and out of the living room to have the living room 'finished.'


And that's 'next'....

The DIY Home Renovations Update - Living Room

It's been a busy three weeks, and although we do still have a ways to go towards a completed 'full rehab' on this house, it's actually become, almost a livable 'home.'...

In this post, I'll show you what's been done, room by room, with a recap of the before pics and an up to date pic next to it... and then I'll show you what still needs to be done, and what we're planning to do in terms of getting it done.

First, the living room...

I'd like to be able to say that this is where I stored everything 'to be sorted through', but nope, actually, several rooms had this 'hurricane went through it' look to it when we came back here.






We started on this room a few weeks ago.... here's a picture of Sherry hanging the curtains

And now... I've got it down to this... 

The two nightstands in front of the entertainment center are just there temporarily until I get the boys bedrooms done, and then they may go in those rooms, or I may find something else to do with them. 

The milk crates under the windows will eventually go in their rooms too... for now, they're just a place to keep all their various toys stored in some kind of organized way.

You most likely can't see it in the picture, but right to the side of that chaise lounge are 4-5 boxes of 'papers' that need to be sorted and filed... a project that I am dreading.  I expect it to take a minimum of 2 full days and several contractor bags to do.  Other than that, the only thing that will be left to do in this room in terms of 'repairs' is that giant, gaping hole in the ceiling.

Originally, I thought of maybe just making a 'wood' panel for that.  For one thing, I like wood.  It's neutral.  And for another, it would save me the hassle of having to no only hang sheetrock (over my head no less, and high to boot- no I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall)... it would also save me the hassle of having to tape and mud, and smooth and then retexture that and try to match it to the original popcorn)...

And so, of course, as I trawled Pinterest for 'wood ceiling' ideas, I did see some, but then an idea hit me.

I wondered about maybe making a 'box' that could 'pull down,' (the way attic stairs pull down) that I could use as 'storage.' 

See, here on the Gulf Coast of Florida, our water table is maybe 3 feet below the ground, so we don't have basements.  We also don't have attics either.  We have crawl spaces.  And we call them that because you have to 'crawl' around up there.  (If you ever wonder why A/C guys are short, now you know.) 

We end up using our garages for storage. 

So if I can do it, that's a thought.

Otherwise, it's just going to be a some wood covering up that spot... and since wood is neutral, it should work fine.  I could possibly even hang some plants from the wood to make it look like it's supposed to be that way.  I may have to add some wood trim in a couple of other places in the room to 'tie it all together,' so to speak, but that should be easy enough to do as well, between the large entryway and the big bay windows I have. 

Stay tuned for the next update post as we continue to work hard at making this house a 'home' with "Girl Fu."

Kayaks, Canoes, John Boats and Other DIY Personal Watercraft Interruption

DIY Personal Watercraft 

About two years ago, I came across an ad on Craigslist for two inflatable kayaks... and of course, I had to buy them.

I've  always been a water person and I'm especially fond of kayaking, though up until 2016, I'd only rented kayaks.

When I saw these two for sale, I wanted to start training to kayak from the Panhandle of Florida all the way down the Gulf coast.

I took them out once or twice in 2016, and then didn't get to take them out again.

In 2017, a neighbor friend gave us a canoe.  I personally can't stand canoes or canoeing, but I thought it would be a good thing for my boys to have.  Unfortunately, this thing is HUGE... it's gotta be 18-21 feet long.  Too big for my mini-van and too heavy for them to walk it anywhere to use it.  So, on the side of the house it sits.

Now, it's March of 2018 and as we were approaching the annual

"Chasco Fiesta Boat Parade" (an event I've only ever missed once in the past 17 years and that's only because I was 11 months pregnant with youngest boy at the time,) and getting the kayaks ready, I ran across a john boat for sale on either LetGo or OfferUp.

Not only will this little boat come in handy for things like the boat parade and for family outings, I'm hoping that it will be kind of a bonding thing for the boys as they get older... two brothers taking their own boat out on fishing trips, just the two of them.

It is light enough for two people to carry by hand, but we don't live close enough to a body of water for them to walk it to... so of course, I started searching YouTube for "DIY Bike Trailers" looking for some way for them to haul it with their bicycles over to the beach.

And this is what I found...



Maybe it's even possible to build one long enough to transport that gigantic canoe.