Operation DIY: status update

Welp, it’s a good thing we bought a house in the summertime when most of our evening commitments/activities are on a break (points to those who are referencing Friends, right now), because it (the house) sure has kept us on our toes!

There have been several not-so-fun (and sometimes surprise) house (and car) projects, but there have also been some fun projects, so I thought I'd share a couple with you. ☺

Upon receiving an expert recommendation, we decided to put our bed in the corner of the master bedroom, rather than on a wall.  It looked fine, as it was, but we thought it would be even better with a headboard!  We happened to have one we hadn't used in a while in the basement, so decided to make use of it...and upholster it!  After doing some Pinterest and Google research, we had a plan, and after gathering the necessary materials (using coupons for everything, of course), we started to implement it.  

First, we pried the top piece off, so we'd have an even surface.

I nearly forgot to take a picture of the foam piece by itself, but caught a bit of it before we covered it with the batting.

Here's a scrap!  ☺

Padded front and soft edges ready to cover.

Guess what we covered it with...?
A curtain panel!

452 (or something like that) staples later, we had a finished product!

Installed.  ☺

So, the next challenge was night stands.  Long story short, we found the perfect solution(s) at IKEA: skinny, stackable storage "cabinets."  We unstacked them and mounted them on the wall.  They have just the right amount of surface space for the things we need access to and a ton of storage in the fold-out "pocket."  IKEA is so good at small spaces...and ingenuitive storage...and awesome stuff, in general!  And my husband is so good at installing all the things!

Before...

...after!

The other project I'd like to share with you is our bathroom door.  There was some unused space in the main bathroom that we want to fill with a double vanity, at some point, but the door situation didn't make that possible, as it was.  So, we decided to put on a sliding "barn" door.  We found plans to build one and had some truly amazing help with the process!

Unfortunately, this is as much of the building process I was able to capture...it was a busy day.

Here's the (almost) finished product, though!

We took it down so I could add a few coats of primer and paint, then we put the handle on and hung it for good!

(Some of you may be wondering what that little "nook" in the wall is, am I right?  As far as we know, it was built to hold a phone.  We left it on the wall, but had to cut off part of the ledge.  It's still functional as a cute little shelf, though!)

Despite all the discouraging discoveries in the house, it has been fun to continue to make it our home.  I'm so thankful for my handy husband and his ability to do (and/or figure out) pretty much anything.  He's pretty amazing.  ☺

With all fingers in tact,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

time with friends, new and old

the fact that I'm able to wear flip flops! 

(This has always been a "favorite," of course, but I'm especially thankful after my broken foot.)

ice cream

April showers bring...

Do I really need to finish it?

...

Ok - my OCD is kicking in.  

April showers bring...May flowers!

(Except, technically, the May showers had something to do with these flowers, too.)

Annnnyway...happy spring, everyone!  I hope this finds you well and your basement dry.

I've been waiting to share this project with you for quite a while:

My sweet husband helped me make a little flower bed in front of our house!  I was so excited about it, we had it done and ready to plant wellll before the last frost date, so I had to practice patience before putting anything green in it.  It was worth the wait, though!

Here are a few before/during/after pics for you:

This isn't actually where the bed went or is, but I didn't get a true "before" pic, so just picture the space looking like this, except with less green and more dead leaves...and stuff.

After clearing the space, we (yes, I helped) built a 3-sided wooden "box" to contain the fresh dirt we put in.

Then, I put in some landscaping fabric before planting some perennial starts from my mom (and 2 surprise lilies - one of my very favorite flowers - we found at a garage sale).

Next came a few boughten (thanks to spell check, I just realized "boughten" isn't technically a word...weird...no wonder it looked so strange) perennials and the mulch.

After some root stimulater, Miracle-Gro, sunshine, and rain, we have lots of green and even some color!
Hooray!

I planted three different versions of portucula, but this was the only one with a photograph-able bloom at the time of this post.

The plants the Columbine starts came from are like bushes, now.
We'll see how these guys do from here on out!

Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?

Also - we rescued these beauties from the Lowe's clearance rack. ☺

I'm very thankful for my handy husband, his tool box, and his willingness to help me create this.  This was definitely one of my favorite projects we've done "around the house," so far.  ☺

Speaking of showers...and favorite projects...here's a gift I made for a good friend's recent bridal shower:

Not the best picture of it, but you get the idea.
I used pictures (that I took) from their proposal and quotes from favorite TV shows and movies they've been watching together since they started dating.

So, that was all fun.  Gotta love DIY-ing it.  ☺

Let me know if there's ever anything you want the "scoop" about.  I do my best to keep you posted (pun intended), but am always open for suggestions, of course.

Enjoy the end of the semester, you students and teachers out there!  Everyone else, hope you're able to enjoy the weather on occasion.

Thanks for reading!

With a green thumb,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

banana ice cream (frozen bananas in the blender...so good!)

thoughtfulness

long, meaningful conversations