Browsing Category: Renovations

Setting Sail for Adventure

Boys' Nautical Bedroom

This past fall was filled with projects. The kids’ rooms haven’t been done since they were babies and it was really time to move away from the monkeys and elephants, particularly since all three boys are now in a room together, and the girls each have their own spaces.

I’ve long planned on doing a nautical themed room for the boys. Henry and James are the only two of my children for whom I actually made their quilts, the rest are all in limbo.

Boys' Nautical Bedroom

I still have to make Peter’s quilt, it’s on my list. We went with 2 bunk beds nestled together in the corner. We need 3 and having a fourth seemed prudent given the very real possibility of having guests.

I picked up the nautical pillows a few years ago at Ikea, in preparation of someday. The book ledges were repurposed from other projects that I just repainted to match quilts. The letters I ordered on Etsy and just painted them.

The walls were a mess from all the thumbtacks used to hang things and I refused to deal with that again…oh the hours of hammering, spackling, sanding….it was a nightmare. We used command strips this time.

We went with Behr’s Shipyard for the walls, aptly named.

Even Peter has his little spot…now if only he’d STAY in his FREAKIN’ bed. We’ve been trying this for the past 4 months…and we’re not getting any closer. He sleeps in the bed, he’s up wandering the halls or climbing in the beds of everyone else. He’s the worst. If he climbs in our bed, he smacks us in the face and tells us to sk-u-tch over.

I didn’t want a bookcase that was going to take up floor space, there really isn’t that much space in a room once you put in a wardrobe, a dresser, a chair, and 4 beds.

The ledges were simple enough to make and we managed to fit 4 of them on the wall behind the door. Illustrators put so much energy and beauty into book covers, that it’s an absolute shame to just hide them.

The lamp I got at a thrift shop and painted it to match the ledges. I felt like the turned wood really lent itself to the nautical theme….it reminded me of a ships wheel, captain at the helm.

A lot of the pieces we managed to steal from storage at Matt’s parents or picked up at thrift shops and yard sales. I think a lot of people want to do nautical themes, but very quickly outgrow them.

My friend Katie did the vinyl letters for around the anchor, which turned out perfectly! The anchor was through etsy.

The curtains are actually shower curtains that I bought from Amazon and added a thermal drape to the back of, then clipped with some curtain rings. I still need to make curtain rods for them; why ARE curtain rods so expensive?!

After I got them up I realized that they were maps of Cape Cod, they even have the bay that Matthew’s college (Mass Maritime) was on, Buzzards Bay.

Boys' Nautical Bedroom

We didn’t do anything with the floors. They desperately either need to be repainted, refinished, or replaced, but none of that was in the budget for any of the rooms.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. There’s still some work that needs to be done, some pictures that need to be hung, but I like it!

Master Bathroom Reveal

Here it is: 18 months after we moved back into our house. I can officially call the master bathroom done. Of course, there are a few little things that need to get touched up, but it’s all finished. This room was ridiculous. We went through 3 toilets. The floor was stained, then painted twice. Fixtures had to be spray painted. It was fun!
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The toilets: We originally had bought a really nice Kohler toilet, water efficient and all that. The only problem was it didn’t work. Literally there was a manufacturer’s defect and water did not leave the toilet bowl. We got another one. Then that one, for whatever reason {a child I’m thinking} had a crack along the whole back and was leaking water…flushed water. After that we were done…we waited a couple of months before buying a cheap $88 toilet, which has given us no problems and is just as water efficient as the $300 toilet.

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The vanity and sink are from Ikea {Hemnes 42″ vanity and top}. They’re great! It’s really solid, tons of counter space, and lots of storage. Until this renovation I’d never given much thought to drawers vs doors: Drawers win every time for me now!

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I could not find plain black light fixtures or shower curtain rod, so I bought basic dark fixtures then spray painted them. It worked and so far has held up fantastically.

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The faucet is Pfister’s Ashfield. I actually saw these faucets in chrome at a Cabela’s store in PA. I loved them! I came running out and asked Matthew if he’d noticed the faucets, he had. I debated spray painting this black too, but given the water and everything else figured it wasn’t worth the potential nightmare.IMG_1576

The vanity mirror was one that I got at a lawn sale for $10…I love it! It’s huge, the color was perfect, it was old. Mirrors of similar size were $200+

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The soap dish is Mary & Martha’s Grace and Gratitude Small Pedestal server. I had 3 of these, had no idea what to do with them, decided to sell them and sold all but one, then decided it was perfect with some white stones from the beach for a soap dish.

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Above the toilet we put some very basic shelves, painted the same color as the floor, to store things in a basket {still need to spray paint it}. We have no closet in the bathroom…the washer/dryer took precedence, so the extra storage is nice.

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We did put a pocket door in this and our bedroom…they are so much more forgiving with space. There’s no trying to finagle around a door to get to things. The shower curtain is from Amazon.com. It was $20 and was perfect!

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Our towel hooks are ones that my aunt gave to me for my birthday years ago…they’ve been a variety of colors and are fantastic, strong, detailed hooks. I painted them the same color as the floor.

It was hard to get a picture of the entire shower. The blue/gray tile was another issue. I had found the perfect tile from one company, couldn’t get it, found it from another, they supposedly shipped it, I never got it {even though they charged me}, called my credit card company and immediately received a letter from the tile company that they were out of stock and crediting me back. I ended up getting this tile from mosaictiledirect.com, which was good. It’s not exactly what I wanted, but it was very close {the other tile was white}.

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This is a double headed shower just as our downstairs shower is. We really like having two shower heads, because we pretty much always shower together…no one is having to stand there freezing until it’s their turn. The faucets are Pfister’s Ashfield to match the sink. The tub was a nightmare. I had ordered a Kohler cast iron apron front tub, with a left drain {per what I was told}.

When they went to install it I was told I’d ordered the wrong tub, I hadn’t, they told me the wrong tub. We can only have a right drain in this space. We ended up having to go HomeDepot and buying a Bootz cast iron tub for $200. {There were a lot of expensive mistakes in this bathroom!} Again, if I’d just done what I wanted to to begin with we wouldn’t have had an issue.

Overall, I’ve been rather pleased with how it all turned out. Of course, there are things I would’ve done differently {if money hadn’t been an issue…when is it not?!} For now, it works, I like it, and it makes me smile.