Project list

This isn't a 'see what I've done' post.  It's a list of projects I'm going to try to get done this school year.  Keeping in mind I will have 3 days a week from 10-2 with only 2 kids (who will, hopefully nap most of that time), I'm not sure how well this is going to work.  It's worth a shot...right?

1) Decorate the boys room. - I know I've already painted it, but there is still some decorating to do.
2) Finish painting the girls room and decorate it.
3) Paint and set up the guest/craft room.
4) Paint and decorate the game room.
5) Turn a cheap dresser (that I already bought) into a TV stand with storage for the game room.
6) Paint and decorate the upstairs bathroom.
7) Hang pictures by the stairs and in the entry.
8) Build or redo a table for the entry.
9) Decorate (maybe paint) the living room.
10) Build a 'homework' station in the dining room.
11) Build a pantry drawer for cans.
12) De-clutter my kitchen counters.  This means organizing my kitchen better.
13) Organize the office.  This will be nice since it's still mostly in boxes.  I would also love to have my piano reveled under all of the boxes.
14) Clean and organize my bedroom.
15) Clean and organize my bathroom and closet.
16) Organize the garage so we can actually fit both cars in the 3 car garage.
17) Create a garden area in my back yard.
18) Keep flowers alive in my front yard.  This is particularly difficult since I am talented enough to kill cactus.

I am open to ideas and suggests for most of this.  I would also love some help from friends if anyone is creative, talented, or just wants some fun trying to be creative and talented.

Let me know if you have ideas of other things to do as well.  Most of these are out of necessity or can easily be blamed on pinterest.

I have no intention of doing these in any particular order, but once they are complete (if they get completed) I will post the before and after shots or the step-by-step of the project.

Enjoy!

The boys's room

Now that we are in the house of our dreams (or as close as we can get within our means), it's time to make it a home.  We moved in on a weekend in January when it got down to 13 degrees with sleeting rain and no power, gas, or water to the house.  Let's just say there was a misunderstanding with the seller of the house.  I'm making it my mission to paint, decorate, design...To put it simply, I'm going to create our perfect home.

It started with my boys's room.  Twin boys born September of 2012 need a fantastic place to sleep.  With them being born so close to National Speak Like A Pirate Day (Sept. 19) we thought a pirate ship would be appropriate.

Fortunately we started with a blank canvas.  Please ignore the cat boxes and storage bins.  This room was mostly storage before we started this project.

 As you can see, we have angled ceilings in our home.  That came in handy in this room.

I started with string to help make the shape for the ship's shape.

Then I used painters tape to mark the shape I was finally happy with.

Then I did a test area to see if I could figure out how to paint wood planks on the wall.  With the help of a wonderful worker at my local hardware store, I got the perfect brown paints.

I wasn't happy with the cream or orange colors, and I knew that wasn't a good version of a knot hole.  So after I painted over the test area I decided to wing it with what little I learned from this.  There's the base brown.  Only one coat.  I figured I'd use the variations in paint to highlight the 'wood'.

I knew I wanted a cannon ball blast, but I wasn't sure how to do it.  So I left this spot so I could figure it out later.

I lightly brushed a darker brown to add some depth then started adding the plank lines.  I didn't tape each line, but I used a guide line so I didn't get too far off.

I finally decided how I was going to do the blast hole.  I also added 'nail heads' instead of worrying about knot holes.  I knew I didn't have the artistic ability to get into that.

I added a light sky blue for the...you guessed it - sky and a darker blue for the ocean.  I'm rather proud of the little boat in the distance through the blast hole.  I sponged white for clouds.  This also gave me the chance to hide some of the imperfections that come with only putting one coat of paint on a wall.

I found a ship's wheel on Amazon.  If you noticed in one of the first pictures that we had a quilt hanging rod that the previous owners left...we turned that into the ship's mast.  After hanging a few hooks and tying a ton of knots (thanks to my aunt for being a boy scout leader) we are almost done.

All we have left to do is add a pirate flag and a Union Jack flag and we are done!  (My husband was born and raised in England so we found it appropriate to add the Union Jack.)