Just Get 'Er Done!

One of the blogs that love to follow is Young House Love. I've been following them for about 3 years now and I have to say that I've learned a lot about design and how to do everything from simple decorative jobs to major kitchen renos on a budget. The couple John and Sherry now blog for a living. They started out just blogging about their home renovations in order to keep family and friends updated. Anyway, what I love most about them is their "Get 'er done" attitude. Or at least the attitude that I perceive them to have. They will make lists of things they'd like to accomplish and the next thing you know, they are ripping stuff up, painting and suddenly it's done.

Anyway, this post is not about them. Sorry about the tangent. Since Ethan is turning 4 we've asked him if he wanted his big boy room for his birthday and he always told us no. I thought I'd have tons of time to wait before I painted the bed frame and dresser we had in the garage. Well at least that was the answer until about 3 weeks ago. One day he suddenly changed his mind. What?!?! Suddenly, we had to get and do so many things in order to have his room ready for Sept 10th. (Now do you see where I was going with the whole John and Sherry "get 'er done" thing? See? It always makes sense in my own head.) The thing about the timing was also that it coincided with my siblings all coming into town at the same time for the first time since 2010. With all the family reunions, playdates, sleepovers PLUS the DIY business going on, it's been CRAZYTOWN around here. I'm so happy to say that the major stuff is done. Here are some before and after pictures. I have to say that once we got into the "Get 'er done" mode, I started painting everything I could find. So the chair, rug and bench from the bathroom are extras.

Here are the head and foot board we got from Craigslist. They are solid wood, but the reason they were so cheap was because they didn't come with rails and if you look closely one of the finials (bobby-thingy at the top) is missing. No worries, the second finial could be removed to give the head board more emphasis. After poring over Ana White's site for the last 3 years, I felt confident we could make our own rails.

The bed rails proved to be more of a project that we thought, but thanks to Josh we were able to get it looking like a bed.

The dresser was also a Craigslist purchase and was already in use in his room since the spring. I was able to find some nice hardware from the Habitat for Humanity Restore and I'm happy that they go with the overall 'look' I was going for. We put it in the entrance way just to get a shot with nicer light and I have to say I was tempted to keep it for that spot. Hmmm...a project for next year? ;)

This chair. It came from Josh's home when he was a kid. He recovered the fabric I believe when he was in high school or something like that. You can see the original orange fabric peeking through. It used to be our computer desk chair until we got some new ones from Radical. Since then, it became a 'throw-your-clothes-on-it-instead-of-the-floor' chair in Ethan's room.

 I hadn't originally intended on painting the rug. I've read quite a few blogs with people painting rugs to get a new look. This rug was a hand-me-down from my cousin. I was also in Maddy's room at our basement suite. It's seen a lot of spills. This 'before' picture doesn't show any of those mishaps properly. I figured I had nothing to lose with trying to paint this rug AND I wanted to try and pull in more colour into Ethan's room. I may do a separate blog about how to paint a rug. It turned out to be the most rewarding because I had no expectations and it was so easy to do.

 For those of you who know our house, this is the bench/table that the kids use to climb on in order to reach the sink. The kids also use it as a drawing table when they are um...'doing their business'. Again, this was a spur of the moment decision to paint this. I already had the paint on hand from a project in our school room so one morning before a playdate, I went for it and spackled, sanded and primed. The whole playdate I couldn't wait to get home and start painting.

Here is a close up of the damage from the felt pens.

I'm extremely happy to have things ready for his big boy room. The biggest thing I learned from all these projects is that most of the time, the 'idea' of the project and all the work that is involved often can put you off doing/starting the the project. In reality, if you just start the project, they go pretty fast and the end results are very satisfying. Just Get 'Er Done is my new mantra!