Around The Corner and A Rock Of An Idea

I know that we have taken a lot of the winter off from DIYing  but with spring just around the corner we are getting the itch again to whip this house into a home.  We have a few BHCH projects in the works.


First we are expending the laundry room. Our laundry room was the size of a closet and with 6 kids and 2 adults living in this house that was NOT going to fly! So the demolitions has started and I can't wait until it's done.

Second on our to-do list is our stairs and doors.  They are getting a makeover, we are de-golding and going a darker rout. I won't lie...a little nervous on the colour choice BUT I'm sure it will look great...right??

Now something to hold you over, something I was sooooo excited about last summer, that just did not turn out right!! I have not blogged about it because I was so upset it did not work out the way I wanted it too.

It all started with a rock...

This rock to be exact, look at it.  The second I saw it I knew, that was the rock for me ;)

Right under the window we had a musky water pond.  It was just gross, we thought about filling it in but what fun is that?  So we brain stormed and came up with the idea to do a rock pond, we had the pond, I found the prefect rock and we were a GO!

Step one: Clean out the pond.

 Step two: Take a pump, encase it in something to protect it from all the rocks but still allowing the water to flow freely.  You can buy a case specifically for your pump however they are a bit pricey so we just made one with chicken wire.

Step three: Attach tubing to your pump, which will then run up through your rock (make sure it long enough).  Of course, you can purchase the "proper" type of tubing for this project but as you see we used an old hose.  NOTE: the size of your tubing and power of your pump will control the stream of water that is flowing out of the rock.  (we learned that a stander garden hose may be too small.  We think a  3/4 to 1inch hose or tube may work better)

Step four: We then filled our pound with rocks we had left over from the front flower beds.  The flower beds were filled with rocks as ground cover, when we removed them to put in black mulch we saved the rocks for our pound.  We topped it off with new beach stone.

Step five: Fill your rock pond with water.

Step six: Once you have your main rock feature picked out have the rock yard (or wherever you purchase said rock) drill a hole through one end all the way to the other. (mark accordingly)

Step seven: Place your tubing (in our case the hose) in the bottom of the rock up to the top.  Stop just before the hose peeks out.

Step eight: Hide any excess hose and cords into the surrounding ground cover.

 

Step seven: Turn your pump on, sit back and enjoy your rock pond. 

And here it is...does something look awry?

YES! Our perfect rock is no longer PERFECT.

The second my husband came home with the rock I knew something was very wrong.  I told my him, that is NOT our rock.  He didn't believe me...until I pulled out a picture of the rock, and yes I was right (of course) this was not our rock...so we thought.  We called the rock yard, they were adamant that this rock was ours, it was labeled...they were 100% sure.  I was furious, I ran outside looked at the rock again and figured out that the hole was drilled wrong. It indeed was our rock however now our top and bottom of the rock were the sides and the sides were the top and bottom.  We had it marked as to what end we wanted to be the top and this was not it!! Look at that thing, it's soooo ugly. 

You can see the hole was drilled threw the sides of our rock (which then made it the top and bottom) That bottom peek, a the bottom of the picture is suppose to be the top.  NOT HAPPY! I'm still upset about this...

Concrete Bedroom Part 2

Concrete Bedroom Part 2 is a continued post from Concrete Bedroom Part 1.  Click on link if you would like to read it first.

The headboard...everyone I told I was going to make my daughter a concrete headboard thought we I was nuts, I even thought I went nuts.  I had NO idea how I was going to pull this one off.

BUT I did and it looks great!

First thing first, the molds. 

mold made of melamine, sealed with 100% silicone

thin steel added for structure

concrete screened and leveled

 Next the base of the headboard.  We used Kailyn's old bed frame, removed the head board and built our own headboard frame that the concrete would fit into/onto.

frame for headboard

slanted back

 As you see we made a self to fit a few glass pieces of Kailyn's and her alarm clock.

attached old bed to new headboard

installed concrete

Concrete bedroom Part 1

The concrete bedroom, well not 100% concrete but headboard...concrete, storage bench top...concrete and makeup/desk top...concrete, did not start out to be that way.

Kay's room Purple and Concrete, a bedroom transformation

The concrete desk and storage bench started off basically with the same design and construction.  It is basically a concrete slab.  So we measured out out area and I molded their forms for the concrete to be  poured.

Next I had to find some legs for the desk and a storage unit for the bench.

The legs were easy to find, unfinished table legs or stair railings you can find in any hardware store.  We cut them to size, spray painted them black and done.  The storage bench was not so easy.  We had to find something to fit an already fixed size and shape.  We had the concrete top made for it, we had the location for it, but we just could not find anything to fit the area the way we needed to.  We were very close to making our own, until we took a look at Walmart.  We found a great little storage unit that was the perfect measurements we needed...and when I say perfect I mean not even a cm off.  So, yes, there was a little concern there!

make table/desk form

storage bench form

Forms filled with concrete

 The desk is supported by two things.  First it is held up by the 2 front legs that we cut down to size and spray painted black, same as the mural border and screwed into the floor to make sure no one is able to knock down/out the legs causing the desk to fall.  Secondly, it is also supported by a  2x4 sill running the length of the wall.  We drilled into the wall studs and glued down the concrete top.

The storage bench, like I said, fit perfectly and it took a lot of work and force to make this happen.

The box

The pieces

We first had to put the pieces together to build this shelf that we picked up at Wal-Mart.  We turned it on it's side to make a bench that fit a little too perfectly into the space we measured for.
As you see, in the picture below we put a hole in the wall trying to force the bench into place.  We also cut out the trim on the wall...in the end it fit!! and so did the concrete top.

See the hole in the wall on the right hand side...but it fits :)

and btw the pillow are NOT hiding the holes.  We did fix it.

A Wall mural

Here is the breakdown of Kailyn's wall mural that we hung in her room above her bed. Check out the post Purple and Concrete, a room transformation   to see the whole post and pictures.

We wanted to add something with texture, that made a statement and something that said THIS IS KAILYN'S ROOM.  I looked all around for different types of wall paper and just could not find anything that suited her.

One day I was watching Steven and Chris on CBC and they did a segment where their guest used InkShuffle to make custom wall paper for a room she had designed.  And the idea was born...I will surprise Kailyn with a wonderful wall mural of all the things she loves.

So I went to work, my husband not to keen on the idea that I was working on this all on my own, knowing full well that my 15 year old was NOT going to like ANYTHING that I added to this mural.  He talked me into showing her my finished product...and he was RIGHT!

She LOVED the idea HATED what I had done.

After I healed my broken heart, I finally came to terms with the fact that this was HER room and it was for her.  This mural was not going to be coming down for awhile so LETS make it just what she wants.

For the next two days Kailyn and I went through images that she and I liked.  I shredded the ones "not appropriate" and she nixed the ones "to babyish"

In the end we ended up with THIS:

•  I first edited each photo to make them a cohesive black and white. I used Picmonkey to do so.
• Then with the help of Picasa I was able to upload my images and use their collage feature which arranged the images for the size and shape that I needed.
• Once that was done I uploaded my saved image that I had made from Picasa to InkShuffle input the size I needed to make my mural. The only problem was the total came to over $300.  Sorry Kay, that is NOT going to happen.  The mural that once was made to go behind the full wall (length and width) behind her bed got shrunken down to a more manageable size, money wise on her wall behind her bed.  

After I painted we had to measure out to find center. 

 Next step was to follow the instructions.  InkShuffle makes it very easy to install your wallpaper.  All sheets are numbered (I believe we had 5 sheets to put up) as well as where to overlap your sheets to make one seamless piece of art.  You wet it for 15 sec just like your usually wall paper and apply it to the wall and smooth out all air bubbles.
 

Finished and ready for the border.  Since we had to make our image smaller then the wall due to the cost we decided to frame our mural/art work with a homemade frame.

 We took door/window casing spray painted it a glossy black...

 and done!

As much as I would have liked to have been able to mural the whole wall I like what we had come up with.

The Dresser...Before and After

Kailyn was in need of some major dresser help. 

Her dresser from years ago that we purchased at Ikea was falling apart.

I mean, it was embarrassingly falling apart!

It only had 3 drawers in the first place.  

Not nearly the space that she needed.

1 of the 3 drawers were no longer able to even fit into the fame, it was so broken.

Kailyn kept that drawer on her floor with clothes flowing out everywhere.

It was a mess!!

 I knew I needed something with a lot of deep drawers,

I wanted to give her as much space as possible so she had NO excuse not to put her clothes away.

I went looking for a new dresser on kijiji and I found this (as seen below)

(I bought it as a set and I'm going to be using the long piece for the girls room) 

The before

brass handles had to go

I think the previous owners tried to give it an antiqued/it's been through a fire look??

I wanted something modern but that still had character and this dresser was perfect.  

The dresser has great details from the shape of the handles and the little key hole accent piece on the 3rd drawer, super cute, to the square detailing around the top and middle of the piece...some real nice details.  

First I took off all the handles and key accent piece.

I washed and sanded the dresser down, trying to get rid of any marks and old paint residue from the previous owners.  I started to paint it and about 3 coats in to it I was happy with the finish product.

We spray painted the handles and the key accent piece a glossy black and then sprayed on a clear coat hoping to protect them from any chipping.

I was torn between a silver or black finish.  I'm happy with the black.

and that was that, I was done and I was so happy with the look.

This blog post is part of Purple and Concrete a Bedroom Transformation. Click the link to read