Projects... updated

So, over the past couple weeks I've been working on projects around here that I've been meaning to get done forever, and just haven't had the time, or the space, or the weather hasn't been right, or whatever handy excuse is available. Most all of these projects feed off each other somehow, so it makes sense to get them done together. And, now with staging our house to sell, other projects needed to get done so it looks somewhat clean and organized around here, and anyway, here's where I currently am on the projects.

Our headboard got turned into mounting boards for a whole bunch of going losting pictures. Why did I turn my headboard into mounting boards for pictures you ask? Because it was part of a bed that was a piece of junk, and it made me mad, and the alternative was chopping it into tiny pieces and lighting it on fire. That's why. These turned out pretty good. The goal for them was to 1) display going losting pictures with a minimum of $ output right now. All total including the cost of printing the pictures this cost about $20. So, that goal was achieved. And, 2) break up the brown wall in the study/guest bedroom, and make the room feel bigger. That worked as well, so all in all I'm happy with these. I'm thinking that when I go to display our next 4 years of going losting pictures I will maybe spend $40. And, if we keep that up, by the time we're 90 or so, we'll be mounting them and displaying them gallery style.

Since I had no headboard anymore, I spent an amount of time that shall go unnamed searching how to make one that was more us (ok fine, more me.) and also budget friendly, and moving friendly--I didn't want to have to bolt anything to the wall, or screw anything to our current bedframe. So, this tutorial was the best suited one to our situation that I found. I am SO happy with this headboard. It is good and stuck on the wall, and I'm not worried about it coming off and braining us while we sleep, or anything like that. Added bonus was I got to move the bed about 8 inches closer to the wall, which makes our room appear a lot bigger. And, it cost just about $40, that makes me happy. Also, if we tire of the Giraffe print I will feel completely guilt free taking it apart and doing something else. Not that anyone could ever tire of giraffe print. What is cooler than zebra print? Giraffe print, that's what. And zebra print is pretty cool. So there.

And, with building a bookcase I was finally able to paint this sideboard, and organize it with my cast iron, and pans, and BBQ odds and ends, and all the other fun kitchen stuff. I LOVE how this turned out. The top is still butcher block, and it is pretty with the green bottom.

And... the bookcase. The bookcase I've been longing after for over 2 years, and meanwhile collecting books to go upon it. With my pickiness for width and height and finish, and Frank's pickiness for the same, and budget constraints for what we wanted not quite being affordable--curses upon you and your expensiveness, Pottery Barn, this was the route that we ended up going. I mostly built this myself, with a bit of help from Frank, and my Grandpa.

It has to fill a lot of positions for home organization, so I needed it to be wide and I needed it to be tall. At this point and time it is almost filled to capacity. I could take off some of the pretty stuff and put more books on it, and I may end up doing that at some point, but the good news is that with the irony of life, after longing for a bookcase for 2 years I am expecting to shortly be moving into a house that will have at least one wall of built-ins. Of course, me expecting that ironic happening may negate the possibility of it's occurence altogether. Only time will tell.

Oh, it makes me so happy to have my books and things stored properly.
I did this for the outside frame finish of the bookcase--and there aren't words to describe how much I love it. I think I sanded off just a bit less paint than she did though. And, I agonized long and hard over whether to cover the backboard, or what to cover it in. I originally had thought to do something like this, but I try to avoid overly flowery prints in our living area, so that one just didn't feel right. My second thought was painting and stenciling, but that sounded like a lot of work, so I thought burlap might work just for some texture but that didn't feel quite right either. I decided on the faded zebra print and was pretty excited about it, but I still wasn't 100% sure until I got it in the mail, and it was so perfect that I may have squealed and jumped around a bit. It would be way too much zebra if there were no books on it, but with just a bit peeking out here and there from behind the books and things, it ends up being the perfect amount of zebra. All in all, I'm really glad that I went with my gut and covered it, because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be nearly so satisfied with it if I hadn't.
And, lastly. I saw this on Pinterest, which linked to here. And, I had to have one. Realistically this didn't need to be done now. But the thing is that I know my antique stores here. And, while I'm sure they have antique stores on the west side, I don't know them, and I'm not going to feel like antiquing anytime soon enough to get me one of these as soon as I want one. So, I made one. And I love it as much as I thought I would. Which makes me happy.
So, yeah. There's a project update. My laundry is out of control, and my floors are disgusting. I'm going to fix that immediately upon hitting "publish" for this post.