Tag Archives: redecorate

In For A Penny, In For A Pound

30 Jan 2011

Wanna see the re-organization project that derailed my movie plans on Saturday night?

Here’s some background: I went to Ikea last Wednesday to pick up a bookcase. The project idea was stow my cookbooks in the nook behind my swinging door. I found a small bookcase that fit the space pretty well. The module piece was in the budget ($40), but didn’t come with a bottom level. If I wanted the bottom piece, it would cost me another 40. Really? Yeah, thanks IKEA. Very EFFIKTIV of you. I skipped out with just the main piece.

The resulting problem, is that I had to use the existing surface of my built-in for the books. The paint was peeling and dirty and awful. Peeling paint makes me want to run away.

So I used the paint remover (Jasco was best), and took off a bunch of paint. Then I got to some really weird red-stained wood stuff. Blood red. After poking around, (spending Way too much time trying to make the red surface nice enough to paint), I realized it was a layer of linoleum, and I could actually remove it! We uncovered and unscrewed the metal nose-piece, and it came up easily.

Sigh. What have these People been doing to my house through the years! I swear. I took out metal flashing, more patches of linoleum, contact paper, nails, … Eventually we got to the bottom level – wood.


Here is my lovely “After” photo. It was all worth it. I like my house a little more than I did before!

So what weekend project shall I tackle next? I’m all warmed up. :)

I Love Oscar’s Room Again

19 Jan 2011

We moved a couple things around in Oscar’s room. And I’m so happy we did! Most notably we moved the giant corner cabinet out. Out the window to be precise. I wish I took a photo of that, but I was too busy trying not to drop it on Mark’s head. Oh, hold on, Mark has a shot from his phone:

Now the writing desk is out of the way, and the whole room feels right again. Hooray!
(It’s still ‘over-full’, but at least now you can get around.)

See all the space?!

The desk is now here in the corner when you walk in. I like that you can finally see the green wall touching the blue wall. It’s what we covered up all this time with the bookcase (5+ years).

My childhood bed. Isn’t it pretty? Don’t you just want to take a nap in the afternoon sun?

And, guess who likes Oscar’s room more than me?