60's dresser for Sock Monkey Room is COMPLETED:)

Remember this family hand me down??

She is now stained Bombay Mahogany to match the bed. I wish I could get a good picture of it, but the fact is the camera flash over exposes and does it no justice. It is an espresso color with a slight tint of red. It's great!

Now to finish decorating ....

Partial Sock Monkey Bedroom Reveal :)

ooooh, this post has been a long time in the making, BUT the toddler farmhouse bed (build plans courtesy of ana-white.com) is finally COMPLETE!!!

After building, and my finally putting the last coat of miniwax stain on last night, she's DONE!!! BEAUTIFUL!! (or I should say "he" -it's for my son). The stain is Bombay Mahogany (gloss) by polyshades/miniwax. It's red during it's first coat, but with a THICK second coat it's espresso  with a thing of red. It's seriously the most beautiful shade of stain I have seen, EVER :) It's also easy to work with. (do not be discouraged by the first coat, it will throw you off) after the second application a week later you will be in awe! It's a wonderful product to work with! I like it better than paint actually. I love that this has a built in poly gloss with the stain. EASY, EASY, EASY!!

His room has been a budget design - $60 in lumber and supplies, already had the polyshades miniwax stain on hand, bought the bedding (duvet, fitted sheet and duvet cover) for $60 marked down from $110, and made the other pillows myself. My son will be in SOCK MONKEY HEAVEN!!

Just wait until I show you the 60's dresser I have redone, it's looking brand new and modern all over again!! LOVE!!

Slow progress is picking up!

Okay, the 60's dresser family hand me down I was refinishing? SUCESSSSS!

And this has taken way longer than it should have. I mean, I always start projects in the midst of another, so I blame my need to multi task on that.

Anyway, this is the second coat of stain on both dresser & toddler farmhouse bed.

The stain is Bombay Mahogany by Poly shades Miniwax.

Initially it was red, but a nice red. After a thick second coat, she's bright glossy espresso with a hint of red ting. FREAKING GORGEOUS!! love, love, love this color!

Now that my lungs burn and I had stain my my hair and face (not sure how)?? I am one step closer to completion of Ethan's sock monkey bed room make over. :D

I am pleased :D AND as always, please please please, ignore my ugly den, it's my last project in the house that I will be redoing:) And it will be a total night and day difference:) Once the dresser and bed cure I will start putting Ethan's room together. F I N A L L Y !! :)

Staining the 60's Dresser

If you remember (many moons ago) I was starting the process of refinishing a family hand me down 60's dresser.

See here: 60's Dresser Re Vamp

Well today I broke out the miniwax and went to town on the drawers & sides of the dresser.

What a rich beautiful color! It is more of an espresso red in real life:)

Above photo depicts the color more accuratley. Ignore the bed being washed out by flash:)

Next time I update, I hope it is to show you the complete room reveal. I will cross my fingers in the meantime. Hope you all have had a great weekend! 

Today's agenda? Staining the toddler farmhouse bed for Ethan's sock monkey bedroom!

Updates:


This is just the first coat. Bombay Mahogany (polyshades miniwax) appears red with camera flash so I turned my flash off. Initially it is more of a brownish red color. After about 4 or so more coats with light sanding, we hope to achieve the almost blackish red it should be.

And even if it remains more red? That's okay It will go along perfectly with the sock monkey theme.

Parts of me wanted to keep it natural, but we could never sand the dresser down enough to match it, so they will both be bombay mahogany. And that's fine by me :)

What do you do when you are kid free?

I would like to imagine, that most people who never get a kid free moment, like myself, would do a wide variety of interesting things.

Me?

Well, I have done the following in the last 7 days:

* CLEAN

* DECLUTTER

* DONATE TO GOOD WILL

* DECLUTTER SOME MORE

* CATCH CRITTERS
(a couple mice came in one night and I had to turn to youtube to learn how to set a snap trap. Apparantley I am too stupid to understand the instructions when reading).

SUCCESS! I did catch all 3, I set more traps just incase, but 2 days later I have no more catchs.  My dad, who thinks he is Billy the Exterminator, tells me "Oh, Jenny, they just come in because it's hot..you know, it's so damn hot".

Thanks Dad. Yes, YES it is hot. BUT, I can not live with critters. They have no bladder so they pee as they critter along, they poop and their poop carries bacteria and virus'. They are cute, but not cute enough to let me let them infest. They populate way too fast. And the worst thing? The critters often carry fleas. So be sure you mop A LOT if you happen to live in an area with fields and you get the occasional critter mouse, because BELIEVE ME, they WILL leave you with fleas if you are not on it! Everytime I have caught them they have left me with a flea problem. BUT, I started to use murphy's oil soap after I catch them and it seems to kill them off. I haven't seen any (knock on wood) in years. I hope it stay sthat way. I mop every other day and it keeps the bugs out. I loooove murphy's oil soap. BUT I love Pine Sol more.

So I will use Murphy's oil soap to kill off bugs and I will use Pine Sol later because it smells so good for a good 3 days :)

But back to critter mice, I do not want them..

FOR ONE, when they go crittering at night they are so loud I think that someone is either:
a.) breaking in
OR
b.) I have ghosts

Eventually I learned that my home mostly remains ghost free, and the dog wards off anyone who comes a few feet near the gate. Critters be damned! ;P

Today, I sanded and painted Ethan's baseboards bright white (for the sock monkey room). Now that I have painted all that, I will need new doors when we have spare change. And his room shall be set up within the next few days :) (still need to stain his dresser).



and I replaced all the old off white outlet covers with bright white.
Which reminds me, if you ever find yourself unable to find a flat head screwdriver (I must of found 10 Phillip's screwdrivers but not a flathead to be found)..just use a tweezer's flat edge.
(I know my hands are ugly, please do not remind me, I have old folk hands) :))

It's hot. It is so hot here. It could always be worse.

Now excuse me while I go finish my sons room and attempt to sing along to "ALONE", by HEART. It is my favorite.

Super cute build a bear - SOCK MONKEY!

Okay, so my friend, Brandy posted a link on my facebook a couple weeks ago with a build a bear sock monkey. It was the cutest sock monkey I had seen and since I am doing Ethan's room with the sock monkey theme, I could NOT pass it up. It was only 22 bucks, but after shipping and taxes 33. It came today & I have got to say, it is ENTIRELY TOOOOO stinkin' cute!!
(ignore the clutter behind this adorable sock monkey from build a bear, I am FAR from being able to do Ethan's room, something always comes up..)

Good thing Brandy showed me this when she did because when I was checking shipment status a day ago it said it was already discontinued. *whew*!!! JUST IN TIME!!! c'mon build a bear, this little thing is toooo cute for you to already discontinue! I know other mom's are into the sock monkey craze too! :)

There ya go, a picture using flash is more true to the detail..

THEY MATCH :) My son loves this thing. Don't let the non looking at the camera fool you. Just my luck my own child is not a fan of his mamarazzi photographer mom!

This was only sold online too! Maybe it will be back, I hope so because I would definatley order another one for MiMi. It is the cutest thing ever!!

Now, only if I could find time to do Ethan's room...SOON, I promise lol!! Things here have just been so chaotic. The man of the house is always working, I am always raising the kids, trying to pretend I am the Betty Draper of Mad Men, when in reality I am the chunky susie home maker. :D

My art skills (or lack there of).

I always liked to draw (stick people). One year as a sophomore I had a class I didn't like, my sister suggested I try to get in her art II class. I thought great, except I didn't take art I. So I went to the guidance office and they asked me if I took art I, I lied and said yes. I was a quiet nerd, with A's and B's so no one thought to check my transcript from freshmen year.

I got into art II and bluffed my way through it, Then as a senior I took art 4, it was obvious I never taken art I at that point. The kids in my class had work that looked like it jumped straight out of a photograph.

Mine? Well, lol, let's just say ..erm..let's just NOT say ;)

Some how I can wing little things and I can shade awesome with colored pencils, half rear with crayons and painting? Well, I can't paint to save my life (unless it's a wall lmfao).

So I wanted something for Ethan's sock monkey room re do. I ventured etsy, and I loved everything pretty much, but I'm pretty much broke and so I figured I'd just have to suck it up and try to draw my own. I broke out the 18x12 giant sketch pad form high school (yes, really). And I freehanded this guy :) Then I didn't have colored pencils..sooo..I just used crayons..not too shabby:

And, well? It is a kids room, so it can be imperfect:D
Back to Art II? Well this was one of the first projects I did in high school art (way back in gosh 98-99). - Man, I am old, do not remind me ;P

For some reason it's always been one of my favorites :)

Sneaky-Peeky - Toddler Bedroom Make Over - Sock Monkey Bedroom

I ventured online to find things to do Ethan's toddler room in Sock Monkey theme. Ultimately, I thought it was beyond ridiculous to pay 300+ for toddler bedding at custom places that he would outgrow within the next two years. That and, who has that much to spend on BEDDING? Not me! But if I ever do hit the mega millions jackpot, I will probably be first in line to spend $$ on something like that (no, not even then) hehe.

So, I headed over to an online retailer and purchased this soft chenile bedding. It came with a comforter, chenile, duvet, chenile fitted sheet AND a chenile pillow case (tossed 5 bucks for embroidery) and was ecstatic. The retailer had a facebook code for 15% off on orders ofer 85 bucks, well the bedding alone with shipping would of been 80, so I thought, oh hell I can find something to buy to make my total worth it :) So I threw in a large sock monkey, t shirt, and all the bedding and my total was 90 bucks shipped:) I totaly didn't expect it to be high quality, so when I opened the box, I was absolutely THRILLED at how soft it really was. I AM IN LOVE!!

The toddler comforter

The comforter, chenile duvet, fitted sheet and pillow case with some sock monkeys, his room is going to be SOOO CUTE!

softness UP CLOSE ;)

love this embroidery!


and with his new toddler farmhouse bed Doug built with the plans from knock off wood, once it is stained, it is going to look great!


I will be off to Joann's Fabric later to buy some fabric to do little toss pillows for his bed to complete the look.
Update: Went to JoAnn's and picked out this fabric for the accent pillows:


Sock Monkey room on a budget: I GOT THIS!

Toddler Farmhouse Bed // Ethan's Room Re-do on a budget

So, after Christmas, we are usually in a bit of credit debt, after the kids and family spending. But, we also end up with money or gift cards around this time as well. Every year, I have used it to put towards the house or something for the kids. Last year Ethan's crib was recalled and we took it back to get half of the money back. We used it to purchase wood to make the toddler farm house bed from knock off wood. The lumber was the white pine (cheapest you can get at lowes) and it cost 65 just in lumber, but well worth it for a sturdy SOLID wood bed.

This year, it is Ethan's turn to get a room re do. Ethan never really had a room to be honest, he has just slept in our room all this time. His we meant well and had intentions of him having his own nursery, but it just never worked out. I even have the crib bedding still NEW in the package (oops). So here is the toddler farmhouse bed that Doug built for Ethan. All he has to do is add center slats and the end cap on the foot board, I LOVE IT! I hate to want to stain anything that looks this beautiful naturally but I am thinking it will be a dark finish:



Please ignore our den, it is currently the "multi purpose room". As you can see I still have yet to stain the craigs list dresser. Which may be Ethan's, but since MiMi's just broke and is ratty we may just use it for her and build Ethan a smaller one.

This is Ethan's room before (the clutter room):



And hopefully in two weeks you will see the cute and custom design I am doing for it from scratch :) I promise it is going to be really cute and on a budget:) I ordered his bedding (which has still yet to process), and I just bought his toy storage from target for 59, which I later found out was on sale the following week for 38 :( Don't ya hate that? lol

Mostly, I just want little man to have a room so our bedroom and living room becomes less cluttered :) Can't wait to share later!

One thing though, I am seriously contemplating moving MiMi into his room since it's bigger and him into hers, Ohhh, decisions..