Hi friends! I thought I would wrap up the deck posts with a round-up of the resources and the budget. As you can see from above, my peony plant finally bloomed and I have been treasuring these gorgeous blooms!!! [Read more…]
Final Reveal: The Deck!
Welcome! It’s final reveal time for my One Room Challenge room- the deck!!!
Since we have completed the deck, we have had two parties and this is the perfect hangout spot (especially after the baby goes to sleep)
It has been super rainy around here, but the clouds parted just in time for me to take pictures
The whole renovation started with painting the railing. We then added carpet, a rug, and recovered the chair cushions. [Read more…]
Styling School- How to Accessorize
Styling School- how to accessorize
Hi Friends,
You might have noticed, but lately, at the end of every post I include a link to my free course where I teach you everything that runs through my head as I am accessorizing. So if you want a pretty home, but you aren’t sure how to arrange the pieces, I have a free guide for you. At my 9-5 job I am an Interior Designer for 15 furniture stores. I have taught hundreds of people how to arrange accessories in a beautiful way. I would love to also teach you all my tips!
Illustrations via
How to Update Old Patio Furniture
Do you have old outdoor furniture that functions perfectly well but is ugly? That you’d hate to throw away, but aren’t sure how to update? I am going to share how to update old patio furniture. These tips will help you with any patio furniture update! [Read more…]
How to Style your Outdoor Space
How to style your outdoor space.
Hi Friends! My deck is getting super close to being complete for the One Room Challenge. I am down to gathering the details that will pull the space together- AKA the fun part! Also, the make it or break it part. Here’s a sneak peek!
I have been doing a ton of research on how to pull an outdoor space space together through accessories, and I thought you might appreciate what I have learned in case you are tackling a similar project as the weather warms up. And what better way to illustrate this than through pretty pictures?!
All photos (except the Flamingo one above) are from Shop Terrain, the garden store owned by Anthropologie. I love this shop because it has a very old world, gathered look to it. I am going to use photos from their shop to illustrate how to style an outdoor space.
How to make a Play Kitchen from a $10 piece of furniture
How to make a play kitchen from a $10 piece of furniture
step one- get inspired
Have you ever seen those adorable play kitchens on Pinterest made out of old furniture and thought to yourself that you’d love to make one? Yet it looks complicated or expensive? I am going to break down the steps for you and show how you can make one with $75. First of all, you’re going to need some inspiration. This was mine:
step two- find your piece of furniture
Next you need to go to your local thrift store and see if they have anything that will fit your space. In addition, you’ll have to use your imagination at this point since there will be some ugly pieces. Don’t worry, because paint can fix almost anything!
For my kitchen, I bought a $10 entertainment center and a $1 stainless steel bowl (for the sink. Here’s an option for $6). Isn’t that laminate dark wood beautiful?! (sarcasm :))
step three- alter your furniture
Once you have your piece of furniture home, you’re going to want to do any structural alterations necessary to the piece. This will be different with each individual piece of furniture. For ours, my husband took off the top and attached it to the back and it immediately looked more kitchen like. It is nice and low so Don can access it.
step four- prime
Now is the time to prep your piece of furniture for paint. This may mean sanding or using a primer, based on the material of your furniture piece. Since I was working with laminate, I applied a coat of Kilz primer. If it would have been wood, I would have sanded.
I did two coats of the primer…
step five- paint
We’re finally getting closer to the fun, pretty part! It’s now time for you to paint your furniture the final color it will be. Our play kitchen will mostly live outside, so I then did a coat of outdoor deck paint (to help protect from the weather) and finished with a coat of the white paint from my living room (Delicate White from Lowes).
I liked the idea of the play kitchen to coordinate with the rest of our home.
If you are wanting a two tone kitchen, these instructions are for you! Since paint is one of the cheapest ways to add personality, I think this is a fun, inexpensive option (especially if you have the paint already).
I painted the bottom of the kitchen a mint color I had on hand from my son’s crib and high chair (Martha Stewart Sea Glass from Home Depot- the paint line is discontinued but they can mix it with Glidden paint). Painters tape was used to section off the two colors. Finally, I used a credit card to seal the tape and I was amazed how little bleed I got!
step six- add a faucet
The next step is to add in the important accessories. The hard part with this step is the budget- the cheapest faucet option I could find was $17. Since I have a $60 budget for all building materials, I needed to get creative.
Do you know someone doing a remodel that can donate their old one? Do you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore in your area? They are a thrift store for building materials and are all across the United States (here’s a link to the location finder). I went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Salt Lake City. I found an old Kohler faucet that I liked and went to pay for it. The cashier said I could have it! High five for a free faucet!!!
With a free faucet option, it might need some cleaning up. Due to some major build-up mine definitely needed some attention, so I put it in the sink with Lime-away and it is now looking much better!
step seven- add a stove
The next accessory to add is the stove burners and oven door. Wood circles work nicely for burners. I used chalk paint for the burners ($1 wood circles from Michael’s) and for the oven door. Note, in hind sight I should have used more sturdy circles. The ones I used were super thin and warped. I suggest thicker ones like this (only $3 each)
To classy up the cabinets, I decided to add some trim. My trim is from Michael’s since they have some great craft trim options. I spent $5 on trim and decided to add it to the door and also on the sides.
I used the miter box and saw I had on hand, but if you are doing a small project like this, Michael’s had a great option for $5! (here’s an option from Amazon)
step eight- install trim
I used a beaded trim on the sides and I love how classy it looks! I adhered all of the trim with liquid nails. As a result, these details really add some charm and character and are a great place where you can let your personality shine through!
Next step- start assembling your accessories that you have been collecting! We installed the faucet and put in hinges so that the over door opens like an oven.
You can also use Liquid Nails to adhere the oven wood circles (aka, the burners)
If you are worried about your paint job getting scratched up, you might want to give the whole piece a clear coat in addition to the paint. I gave the kitche three coats of the clear coat. Note, the faucet was wrapped in plastic while spraying on the clear coat to protect it.
step nine- backsplash
If you are wanting a back splash for your kitchen, I found a really fun, inexpensive option that’s easy to install! At The Home Depot I bought some $0.89 squares of linoleum stick on tiles that incorporate my love for the faux carrara marble look! Here’s an option on Amazon if you would rather shop from home. Or this super cute and affordable marble contact paper will work too.
I cut the linoleum tiles down to 2″x4″ rectangles and then installed them to look the same as subway tiles
I cut them with a paper cutter I had on hand. It was nice and fast. I had to rip the paper backing because the paper cutter couldn’t make it all of the way through, but it was still an efficient way to cut the tiles. This paper cutter is similar to the one I have (and love)
The tiling was fast and fun! This project was coming along super quickly now! This part was super fulfilling :). It was also the element that pulled everything together and looked polished. Update- I have had to since go back and glue down the tiled because a few fell off. If you go this route, I’d suggest gluing from the beginning :). I used liquid nails to secure them.
I also attached the sink with liquid nails and it has held up really well so this seems like a great option.
step ten- add a spice rack
Now, your main elements of the kitchen are in place! It’s time to add in the smaller details!
I bought a spice rack from Ikea and since I like the white on white look, I painted it white and screwed it onto the black splash.
final reveal!
And now, for the reveal photos!!! In addition to some more small detail ideas for you!
Didn’t it turn out cute?! I am in love!
We added these Ikea pots and kitchen utensils. I put in cup hooks under the rack to hold his cooking utensils
I found oven replacement knobs on eBay for $7.80. We put on three- two for the burners and one for the oven. I have seen simpler oven knobs on other play kitchens made of wood, but I love the realistic version.
I added a finishing detail by sewing Don a little matching kitchen towel with fabric I had on hand.
At Anthropologie they were having a 40% off clearance sale and they had the cutest kitchen timer. I snagged it at $2! You can get the same timer on Amazon too!
I found a play tea set from Down East Home (a store that sells Pottery Barn kids items for discounted prices). It was on sale for $8! Here’s an available option. I love that these are stainless steel so they won’t break with little hands.The color wasn’t perfect, but I figured I could paint it. It’s actually hard to find non-breakable gender neutral play dishes! I ended up loving the color with the play kitchen. So what if my little boy plays with pink dishes? Maybe I’ll paint it down the road if it bothers us.
My dog Lucy is a fan too… Haha
The best part of this project is how much my son Don loves it!
I think this will be a toy that grows with him. He loves opening and closing the doors and moving the faucet handle. He thinks the oven door is the BEST little step stool!
Don’s Moccasins / These are my favorite little jeggings
When he is older I can see him actually playing pretend more with it. At that point I will add an apron, play food, hot pad, and an oven rack. For now it is good and we all love it!
Budget Breakdown:
Building Materials
Entertainment Center- $10
Sink- $1
Tiles- $4.50
Oven Knobs- $7.80
Oven Burners- $3
Trim- $5
Oven Pull- $6.75 (from Ikea)
Faucet- Free!
Spice Rack– $4
Hinges for Oven- $2
Building Materials Total: $44.05
Accessories:
Tea Set $8
Pot and Pans $10
Timer $2
Accessory Total: $24
Total: $68.05
conclusion
In conclusion, with some elbow grease and imagination you can too create a play kitchen you and your children love! And on a budget! Isn’t it fun that you can make something custom that matches your home?! You can do it!
Shop this post:
Update- I’ve recently made another play kitchen. It’s similar in design and I thought you’d like to see it here.
Thanks for following along!
How to make a play kitchen from a $10 piece of furniture. Please note, affiliate links were used
Deck- Lighting (One Room Challenge)
Happy Monday! I am excited to check in with some updates on the deck for the One Room Challenge! Today is all about the lighting. When I am thinking about changing a space, I go through this list of items that will make a big impact:
- paint/wall treatment
- flooring (carpet, wood, laminate)
- rug
- art
- plants or any live element (flowers)
- textiles (throws, pillows, drapes)
- accessories
- lighting
I can’t change the wall color or treatment, so I am trying to work on every other element. And my goodness! That light needed replacing! Rusted, too small, and outdated (with a million dead bugs inside). When we first moved in forever ago, I wanted to change the light, but we never got around to it. Finally I made time to change it! I searched online and couldn’t find something that was in my budget (less than $50) and that I loved. I went to Home Depot and had the same issue. Then I went to Lowes and found a great option for $49.99. Here she is all lit up at night:
I love the black finish, the seeded glass, and that it comes with an Edison bulb. The other lighting update we did was putting up outdoor globe lights (we used these ones from Amazon for $17.99 a strand. We used two of the 25′ long strands).
They are awesome at night- the ambiance is unreal! It gives the illusion that there is a ceiling in the space and makes it more intimate and festive feeling. They are installed with cup hooks put into the wood and onto the overhang. The lighting for the deck cost $85, but so far, has made one of the biggest changes. I have always wanted globe lights and it has been fun to make that dream a reality, and it was pretty affordable!
In other news, the carpet is finally installed! While my husband was putting it in, all of the deck items were brought inside so our living looked a bit scary…
But isn’t this much nicer than unmatched wood or carpet with a hole in it?!
My husband used glue to adhere it and then a razor blade to cut off the excess. It is a higher quality of carpet than we had before and we are loving it!
It is finally looking less like a construction zone out there and more like a space you want to hang out in! I need to replace the orange cord in the back with a black or white indoor cord (that’s how the lights are plugged in). I’ve started gathering some accessories for the deck, so consider this your official sneak peek 🙂
The to do list is getting shorter and I am thinking we will need to have a party to celebrate this space getting complete! I am so happy that I am getting to the fun part!
If you would like a daily sneak peek, I am posting a photo a day on Facebook of the deck so you can better follow along. If you missed any of the past deck posts, here is the deck plan
and here is the first week’s progress (and embarrassing mistakes)
here is my how to on making a pillow cover and the rug reveal:
Thanks for following along!
p.s. want a free course on how to style your accessories to look amazing? Click below to get your free ecourse!
Deck- Accent Pillows and Rug
Hi Friends! As many of you know I am getting my deck all decorated in 5 weeks for the One Room Challenge. This week I am going to reveal the deck accent pillows and rug. If you are new here and need to catch-up, here is my design plan for the space and here is how the first week went.
First of all, my new rug arrived!I love it! It is a little bright for my normal preference, but the price was right and the size is right so why not go outside of my comfort zone a bit?!
Don approves! This is officially his favorite spot for an afternoon snack. Next up, I decided to sew pillow covers for the space. In the past I have talked about how I prefer to decorate with pillow covers because you can easily switch them out if you get bored of them. I had been buying them on Etsy for around $15 per pillow cover plus shipping, so I figured I would try going the absolute budget route and sewing my own!
Tools:
- 1/2 yard of fabric for every 18″ pillow cover you want to make
- Sewing machine
- Scissors
- Pins
- Coordinating thread and bobbin
- Pillow insert (I am using an 18″ one. You can get one from Amazon for $5.75)
Steps:
- Cut out your fabric. For an 18″ pillow cover, you will cut your fabric to 19″ H x 42″W. If you have a different sized pillow, here is how you can figure out how much fabric you need: For the height, add 1″ to the size of your pillow cover for seam allowance. For the width, double the measurement and add 6″ for overlapping and hem.
- Hem your edges. I just folded over once and sewed close.
- Wrap your fabric over your pillow insert so you can see how much of an overlap you need to create. If your pillow has a pattern, shift the overlap until you like the pattern on the front of the pillow
- Pin the edges so right sides are inside
- Sew the top and bottom edges closed. Turn right side out and insert your pillow cover.
I made two of these in less than 30 minutes! The fabric is outdoor fabric from Hobby Lobby which was $5 a yard. That means if you already own pillow inserts, you can make a pillow for $2.50! #yay!
I sewed the pillows and then was worried the pattern is too much with the rug. What do you think? I put out a pink pillow I had on hand. Which one do you think looks best?
Check back next Monday for my newest progress post! If you would like a daily sneak peek, I am posting a photo a day on Facebook of the deck so you can better follow along.
If you missed any of the past deck posts, here is the deck plan
and here is the first week’s progress (and embarrassing mistakes)
Thanks for following along!
p.s. want a free course on how to style your accessories to look amazing? Click below to get your free ecourse!
Deck Progress- One Room Challenge
Hello! I am excited to show you the deck progress I am doing for the One Room Challenge. Here is the design plan if you missed it from last week. As a reminder, the lovely before!
That is how it looked last September. Not great, not terrible, just boring! And then winter hit and the carpet got a hole in it and the paint came off the railing (it was a particularly wet winter)
I don’t have a picture of the hole in the carpet (it was about a 9″ hole though), but trust me, it was bad. At this point, I wasn’t sure if we were going to replace it. But I knew the paint needed fixing, so one Saturday as the baby napped, I rushed to get painting. Guys, this part is embarrassing, but as I went to get the paint down, I was in a hurry and instead of using a step ladder, I just pulled the paint down off the high shelf it was on. I accidently knocked another can of paint down and it splattered all over the garage, my hair, and the cute outfit I was wearing
I don’t think this photo does the mess justice. It got all over the walls- paint splatters everywhere! And my hair! It looked like a bird pooped in it. I jumped in the shower right away, but I am still finding paint in my hair. So I took this as a DIY lesson to slow down and not skip steps. I mean, it would have taken me less than a minute to pull out the step stool and because I skipped that step I spent an hour cleaning up paint. So learn from me!
I then went to open my paint can (after hour scrubbing the garage, showering, trying to get the paint off my dress and shoes) and the paint was all dried out. I wanted to cry. I am sad to say that this story only gets worse…
The next day I was super careful. I laid down drop cloths, gathered all of my supplies, put on paint clothes, and even turned my socks inside out so that if I got paint on them I wouldn’t be sad. I painted during nap time the first coat of paint. After Don woke up, he was super cranky. We ate lunch together, but he was screaming by the end of it. I let him out of his high chair and let him play while I cleaned off his tray. All of the sudden I thought- where is he and why is it so quiet?!
You can kind of see the hole in the carpet to the left there. Not to mention the paint hand prints…
You guys I left the deck door open and the paint can on the floor not completely closed (parenting fail!). He dumped the WHOLE gallon of paint out and was splashing in it! My goodness, it was stressful! I didn’t want him to eat it and he was covered in paint so I didn’t want him to go in the house. I was scooping up the paint with my hands. It’s funny to me now, but not so much then! That was a BAD weekend for painting (my husband may have banned me from painting for a little bit- haha!)
I guess it goes without saying that we will now be replacing the carpet! I begged my husband to use wood for the deck, but he says because of the construction of the deck, wood won’t work. So carpet it is!
He ripped out the carpet, and fun story, a bunch of the base wood was rotted! So my husband replaced those boards
And then replaced the board that covers those beautifully weathered boards! We haven’t put the carpet down yet because we have had a very rainy few days in Utah.
Meanwhile, the seats to our outdoor patio set were in a sad state! I always hated the coloring and now they were faded. So I decided to cover them with outdoor fabric I had on hand (you can get it here– at $9 a yard it is super affordable). I simply traced the seats and sewed them together with my trusty sewing machine.
The most painful part of this project was hand sewing the back closed. The rest of the project came together quickly and I am VERY happy with the turn out! P.s. I need an updated solution for that sad amber side table…
I have decided that planting some flowers was in order, so I grabbed some pansies from my grocery store for $12. Don was excited to help “plant” too!
The whole reason I am focusing so hard on the deck is because he LOVES to spend time out there. He likes watching the neighbors and playing with his toys. I believe in kids being outside, so this One Room Challenge is for him! I have a secret plan for a play area that I think he’ll love, so watch out for that!
So that is where we are at now!
- Railing is painted
- Flowers are planted
- Floor is prepped for carpet
- Chairs are recovered
Next up:
- Accent pillows
- Rug
- Lighting
- Installing the carpet
- My Secret Project (although it’s not so secret if you follow me on Pinterest– haha!)
- Figure out an update for that side table
- Some “art” for behind the chairs
- Accessories and fun details
Stay tuned! To see a behind the scenes photo everyday, follow me on Facebook (I’m At Home with Ashley there too)
If you missed out on last week’s design plan, you can check it out here
p.s. want a free course on how to style your accessories to look amazing?
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p.s. want a free course on how to style your accessories to look amazing? Click below for my free ecourse!
Where to buy Baby moccasins for cheap (update)
The most popular blog post I have EVER written was this one, where I shared my secret source for buying baby moccasins for cheap. And what’s cheap? Less than $5 a pair!
I wrote that blog post about 6 months ago, so I thought I would give you an update on how they are holding up.
Above are how the moccasins look now. Here are the pros and cons of these shoes: [Read more…]
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