Lemon Drop Life | makeover

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High Chair 2.0

By Dacia On June 19, 2013 · Add Comment

Oof, sorry I’ve been so MIA lately. Between our vacation and starting back to work (*cue tears from this momma*), life has been busy!

BUT I did have time to sneak in one last little DIY before going back to work.

A month or so ago, JP’s mom contacted me and told me she still had his high chair (a Jenny Lind, btw) from when he was young, in case I wanted it. Um..let me think about that..heck yes! She told me it was not in the best shape and that I had free reign to do whatever I wanted to it. Double score!!

nosy dog not included

So when I got my hands on it, I gave it a once over with some sandpaper and wiped all the dust off. Then I hit it with some spray paint (Classic Gray by Krylon in case you’re wondering).

Just an FYI if you’re spray painting something, thin even coats are best. You don’t want it to get drippy or you’ll have to sand and start over. Here’s what mine looked like after one coat.

See how it’s just a light misting and the wood is still showing through? A few coats like that will give you great, smooth coverage. And when I was finished painting, I gave it a few coats of Polycrylic to seal it.

Oh hey, gray chair against my almost-the-exact-same-shade-of-gray wall. I’m not a fan of gray at all, if you couldn’t tell.

But you guys didn’t think I could just leave it like that without adding that extra little oomph, did you?

I used a small spouncer brush to add a fun little detail around the edge of the tray.

I think it will look great in photos for our our little squeakers first birthday! It’s never too early to start planning, right??

Reader Dilemma: Ugly Storage Totes

By Dacia On May 17, 2013 · Add Comment

I recently had a reader ask me for some tips on how to to pretty up her plain plastic storage totes. She recently moved and is short on concealed storage space. So what to do when your have no choice but to leave your storage containers out in the open? Well I’ve been doing some research and have come up with a few ideas!

My first thought was to hide them behind a folding screen. If they’re coordinated into the room well, a folding screen can be a really chic touch!

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Along those same lines, you could use a couple of bookcases to create a hidden storage space.

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You wouldn’t want to do that in a small space though; it would only make the room feel more cramped!

But those are both ways to hide the containers…what if you want to make the storage containers themselves prettier? I’ve got a solution for that, too!

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Using some fabric and decoupage medium, you can make those plastic totes fierce! I also love the rope handle detail, it really jazzes things up!

You can also use spray paint specifically designed for plastic to change up the color and help them blend a bit better. Check out this pin I found where someone made theirs look like an old trunk by painting them brown and gluing on an old belt!

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Pretty neat, huh?

What about you guys? Do you have any clever solutions for making over those drab storage totes? Let me hear ‘em!

A Pop Of Sunshine In The Nursery

By Dacia On January 21, 2013 · 21 Comments

On Saturday, hubby and I (along with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) made a trip to Ikea and picked up a few more things we needed for the nursery. I’m happy to say that the nursery is about 85% done, just a few more details (namely curtains and a floor lamp) and it will be totally FINISHED!!! And I can’t wait to share it with you guys!

But first, let me show you guys the latest addition: the changing table. Initially, my plan was to buy a dresser to convert to a changing table and put it in the closet to save space. Like this:

But, I realized that I would probably end up losing quite a bit of storage space by doing it that way, and like I mentioned in this post about the closet, it was really important to me that we be able to store some of the larger things in the bottom of the closet so that I at least have the option of putting them away and closing the door when company comes over. Ya know, so it at least appears like I’ve got my act together. Ha!

So I did a little rearranging in the room and figured out a space for a small changing table. Design-wise, I love the look of using a dresser as a changing table. However, because the nursery isn’t a gigantic room, I didn’t want anything too visually ‘heavy’. I wanted something more open and airy feeling so that the room wouldn’t feel too crowded. Does that make sense?

I stalked Craigslist until I found something that fit the bill perfectly! So for $30 (and a quick stop at a semi-shady house; no worries, mom…JP was with me), I brought this baby home!

I really loved all the spindles and that none of the slides were closed in. It’s also real wood, which was a huge plus to me since I wanted to paint it!

So once I Lysol-ed it within an inch of its’ life, I did a quick once over with some sandpaper and got to work. From the second I saw this on Craigslist, I pictured it in a bright, sunny yellow and it just so happened that we had a sample pot leftover from when we painted the sun on the feature wall. It’s ‘Macaw’ by Behr and it’s a really fun shade of yellow.

There wasn’t actually a lot to paint as far as surface area goes, but all those lovely spindles did make for a bit of a challenge. So here’s my recommended spindle-painting method: hold your brush perpendicuar to the spindle and swipe on one side and then the other.

Then just work your way up (or down) the spindle. Be sure not to have too much paint on your brush because you don’t want any globs sitting in any of those nooks or crannies. The paint also has a tendency to want to pool at the bottom of the spindle so just make sure you wipe any excess paint from the bottoms as you go. Nice, thin coats really are the way to go here (and for any other painting, for that matter). It may seem like you can go faster if you slop the paint on, but it will only make for more work down the road when you have to sand all those big globs off.

After the first coat was dry, I gave it a light sanding and put on one more coat. Two coats ended up giving us pretty good coverage for this piece, so once the second coat was dry I just went back through and touched up a few places. When working with lots of spindles or details, just make sure to look at your piece from EVERY angle because you’re bound to miss a spot here and there.

Once the touch-ups were finished, I sealed it a few coats of Safecoat Acrylaq. I figure this baby will need to hold up to a bit of abuse (it’s a changing table..use your imagination) and I like Acrylaq because it’s less harsh than traditional sealants.

But what’s a changing table without a little bit of storage, you ask? I remedied the problem with a few storage boxes that I picked up at Ikea on Saturday. I got 6 Kassett storage bins for $21…not too shabby. So here’s where we stand today!

I LOVE the yellow color..it’s so happy! Oh, and there’s a little sneak peek of the rug and the glider for ya

In reality, the lids will probably sit under the boxes, because who wants to mess with a lid every time you need a diaper? And as of right now, most of the boxes are empty still. So for all you mommas out there: what are some of the essentials I should be storing here?

And just to save your scrolling finger, here’s the before and after side-by-side.

Happy Monday!

Linking up at Home Stories A to Z, Inspiration Gallery Party, Miss Mustard Seed, Thrifty Decor Chick, and Design, Dining, + Diapers

Guest Bathroom Reveal

By Dacia On November 26, 2012 · 5 Comments

Alright, who’s ready for a little room reveal on this blah Monday morning?! I’m so happy to stick a fork in this project and call it “done.” Especially with lots more nursery preparation looming on the horizon!

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty…here’s a before and after for you!

It’s definitely come a long way in the last few months!

You can see the original moodboard I started with here. My jumping off point was the shower curtain, which I got from World Market. The first step of the makeover was painting the walls a nice shade of white. Then I broke out of my comfort zone and painted the vanity a fiery shade of coral.

The next big step was putting up the beadboard wallpaper and chair rail. The magazine rack was a HomeGoods find a while back. I’m also letting it double as a place for guest towels.

The art is one of my favorite parts. I picked up the Swimming Pool sign at a local antique store, and come to find out it’s actually a sign that realtors would use to advertise a home with a swimming pool. I had no clue when I bought it, but my mom is a realtor and when she saw it she immediately recognized it. So it ended up being kind of a sweet little shout out to my momma. Gotta love those happy accidents!

The fish prints were purchased from this Etsy shop, and they’re vintage illustrations from a book about fish. The coral and yellows of the fish coordinated perfectly with the color scheme, and what’s more appropriate under a Swimming Pool sign than pictures of fish?? And for some reason, the fact that they’re all hanging over the toilet cracks me up. I’m so cheeky.

There were a couple of other DIY’s involved in completing this bathroom makeover, one of them being the towel hook. {Sidenote: I just realized the mason jar on the towel hook was empty for all of these shots. Bad blogger.} The hand towel was one I ordered from Anthropologie. I also got my rope on and framed out the builder grade mirror in a more unconventional fashion.

I know most makeovers don’t focus on the trash can, but how cute is the lace cutout detailing on this one? Love!

I also love this basket that I ordered at a Thirty-One party. It’s the perfect spot for a couple of towels and an extra roll of toilet paper.

So here’s the breakdown of what I spent for this makeover:

Paint: $42
Beadboard wallpaper: $16
Chair rail trim: $8
DIY Towel Hook: $13
Rope: $10
Magazine rack: $25
Art: $18
Accessories:$60
GRAND TOTAL: $192

I’m thrilled to be able to call this finished for under $200! And just to save your scrolling finger, here’s one more look at the before and after.

Linking up at Home Stories A to Z, Design, Dining +Diapers, Tatertots & Jello, Thrifty Decor Chick

Lighten Up

By Dacia On July 16, 2012 · 2 Comments

Everytime I read the title of this post, I end up singing that theme song from the Titan Auto Insurance commericals, but instead of “Titan Up,” I sing “Liiighten Uuup.” And now you have that song stuck in your head, too. You’re welcome.

Anywho…I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I spent most of mine in the bathroom.

Wait, let me clarify…I spent most of the day Saturday working on our guest bathroom. Glad we got that cleared up

When I was trying to decide between two different color schemes for the guest bath, I mentioned that no matter which color scheme I chose, I wanted to paint the walls white.

For me, I think white is one of the scariest colors to paint a room. It means I have to be pretty spot on with how I accessorize the rest of the room because I don’t have a wall color to fall back on. Pressure, much?

I also had a really hard time finding the perfect paint color. I didn’t want an ultra-white, I was afraid it would look too stark. I also didn’t want a white with any yellow undertones because it’s a small room with no natural light, so things tend to look yellow-y anyway. So I was looking for a white that felt warm, but had more of a gray undertone. The winner?

Greek Villa by Sherwin Williams! It ended up being the perfect color to brighten up the room, but it still feels warm! See for yourself..

And yes, I intended to leave the bottom half of the main wall unpainted…it’s going to be getting a little beadboard treatment, whoop! I hope to be back with the next update for you on Wednesday or Thursday. Get pumped!!

By the way, are bathrooms the hardest rooms in the world to photograph or is it just me?!