Big Kid Beds

We had a leaky roof in the nursery before the girls were born. We fixed the roof but we never fixed the ceiling in their room- partly because of cash but mostly because of the dust situation that ensues when fixing sheet rock.
The ladies had been in cribs up to this point because we kept saying that either we would just wait until we moved to 'move' them into big beds or we would at least have to fix the ceiling during the shift from crib to the twin bed. So, considering our great procrastination in moving out of this house, we decided it was time to fix that darn ceiling and surprise the girls with new BIG beds! (This happened in January, I delayed posting so we could 'surprise' Grandma and Opa when they visited...obviously the delay kept going for while after that as well)

Room with cribs (we had already taken out the dresser)

We moved the girls' mattresses up to the "Cheetah Lounge" on the third floor and they slept there for several days as Dave battled the ceiling with plaster, scraping tools, and a few choice words. But at the end it looked pretty good.

Before and After of one of the two monstrosities on the ceiling. 

Then came the multi-day set up of the beds. I had done a lot research on beds and had decided on a junior loft so that the space on the floor could be utilized (especially nice considering the already minute size of their Baltimore rowhouse room). We ended up going with our first pick, the IKEA KURA reversible bed. I loved the idea of a tent on top and for the price we couldn't go wrong. In addition, if for some reason the loft bed didn't work, we could flip it around. The only drawback of course if that it was an IKEA product, which meant it took FOREVER to set them up. After taking turns with the instructions, screwdrivers, allen wrenches, and some more choice words, this time for the Swedes, we got them all set up and let the girls check out their new sleeping (and playing) quarters with tents, twinkle lights, and more! They were pretty excited:)

More "Knock Off" Updates!

When we moved into our lovely abode we didn't have extra $$ to spend on making it pretty so we got thrifty and creative. We turned gleaming white walls into a variety of colors from gray and green  to yellow and even bright orange. But the true magic happened in the kitchen. White walls transformed into a grey; we painted the stark white laminate cabinets into bold red storage units, the equally stark white laminate counter top into a black faux granite (thanks to metallic paint and bubble wrap) masterpiece. We sealed it with 5 layers of poly-crylic, so it did pretty darn well withstanding water, heat, crusted on food, glass rings, soap scum, and the day to day battering.

A few years in, I decided I couldn't deal with the gray anymore, despite it being a fabulous compliment to the red cabinets, so we changed it to a yellow tone with some texture. While it definitely warmed the
room up, now I was looking at the red cabinets and thinking they didn't match anymore with the new wall color. I spent the next several years looking and envisioning replacing them with dark wood grain cabinets. So since I still was not interested in spending the money to replace the cabinets I thought, huh, I can fake this! So after having our red beauties for almost 6 years I painted them again.. this time to mimic an ebony wood grain. It worked well enough I think. I like it.

So now of course, we have these dark faux wood cabinets, and a dark faux granite counter. Too much darkness. We thought, well, we should probably just go buy a new counter top- we deserve it right? Well it came down to a new counter or our children's preschool education. And I don't think there is really a debate on that one; if there was we should be interrogated as parents.

What happens next? Why not repaint the countertop? Six years ago
I sanded, primed, sanded, primed, painted, sanded, painted, sanded, faux finished (with the bubble wrap), then polyed-sanded-polyed-sanded-poly-sanded and so forth; the whole thing was a week long process (pre kids mind you). Did I want to do that again, no. What I did not know six years ago is there is a product called Rustoleum Countertop Transformations. The extent of my excitement upon learning of this product was frankly ridiculous. Suffice it to say, $100 later, and a sand, prime/ paint (in one step), decorative chip, and seal twice we were done with our new counter in approximately a weekend (with kids even!). It looks pretty good I must say.

Next project, DIY backsplash (hopefully not 6 years from now).

PS. I know the red looked good (or I like to think so) but this new transformation will go further in resale or at least in a rental... so for anyone out there that might think we went backwards on this (mom:))... here's hoping for the best (esp. when we get my backsplash in!)