Monday, May 25, 2009

Home Improvement

I'm SO into little home improvement projects right now.

Yes, there are piles of laundry and dishes that need to be done.

Yes, I'm still behind on the persuasive writing class I'm supposed to be taking right now.

Yes, my bedroom is a disaster.

But....

This is what my front door
used to look like:
Notice all the brass fixtures.


And this is what it looks like now:
I like oil rubbed bronze.
How about you?

This is what my garage used to look like:
So much wasted space!
And this is the wall we walk past every
time we get out of the car and into the house.

So I took everything down.

And built this lovely shelving system
from Ikea. It's called the Broder.
It's like a new member of the family.
We love Broder--especially the
shoe storage feature.

And my favorite little project:
A vinyl headboard.
We bought a Sleep Number bed last year
to help with Andrew's back. We LOVE the
bed, but it's not a traditional frame and I wasn't
sure what to do about a headboard.
Then Andrew got Belvedere Designs
to sponsor his blog and I had them make
this headboard for me. I think it's so cute.
It makes me smile.

Now I'm in the midst of the Great Doorknob Revolution of 2009. I'm getting rid of all the brass doorknobs (and hopefully the hinges, too) and replacing with the dark bronze. Wish me luck. Six down, three to go.

And if I could just figure out how to replace the light bulb WAY at the top of our vaulted ceiling, I'd really be a happy girl.

11 comments:

Mom Sweat said...

Andrea - This was so much fun to read - you are awesome! I love the headboard and I also LOVE the Broder. I think it would be a cute name for a baby boy too, for some reason. And I LOVE the throw pillows on your bed!!
Love,
Grandma Sweat

P.s.
Amy and Dave's house has a beautiful light fixture in the vaulted entry with 4 burned-out lightbulbs. Someone must have a solution for this other than climbing a 20-foot ladder which would be so big and bulky to store that it would probably mess up the Broder!

The Oregonians said...

Home Depot sells long extension poles with lightbulb changers on the end of them. Might take a look.

Ang said...

I love seeing all your projects! I'm a fan of the oil rubbed bronze, too. Go girl!

Aunt Stephanie said...

Love all of your home improvements! I have so many projects that need to get done. I've been using the excuse that Relief Society has kept me so busy (every hospital should have a parking place with my name on it because I am such a regular), but I must face it, I just can't make a decision on paint color, arrangements, etc. Maybe I can pick your brain when you come next month!

Also, I thought it was interesting that you called your Broder book shelves a part of the family. Broder in German (and I suspect in Swedish since Ikea is a Swedish store) means brother. To complete the group, does Ikea have any accessories called Schwester (sister)?

The Normal Mormon Husband said...

Thank you for making our house look so classy and festive. I just don't notice little things like door knobs and light fixtures, but then it looks so good when you are done.

I I love Broder, too. Actually, Broder is my favorite of all of our children.

Amber said...

If the Sweats aren't tall enough to reach a lightbulb, well, you've got yourself a problem. I'm way impressed with your shelving system. Way to go!

Angelica's Family Adventures said...

It all looks great! I love how good it feels to get that stuff taken care of. We bought a two story ladder at Costco a couple years ago. Go to Costco.com search ladder. It's $199 but Jeff has loved it! Here's what it says it does:
The Little Giant MegaLite™ is not just one ladder. It actually converts to twenty-four ladders all in one small easy-to-use ladder system. You’ll find hundreds of uses for the four different sized A-frame ladders, six staircase ladders, three ninety-degree ladders, seven extension ladders and two trestles for four sizes of time-saving scaffolding and it stores in just four and a half feet of space.
Good Luck!

Natalie said...

I love the shelving system and the head board idea. They turned out great!

Marianne said...

I love the headboard!!! I also love how the space is now being used in your garage....way to go! I also love NMH's comment that the shelving unit is his favorite child!! hee hee

Destiny said...

Love the changes you are making. Good for you. I've got a few doorknobs that need replaced, you want to come to my house when your done?

Amy said...

Great job! I can't wait to do some of the exact same things to our house. Thankfully we have silver doorknobs so I'm not going to change them, but we have gold fixtures outside that I REALLY want to change.