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Oct 6 2015

a surprise for handsome

Posted by hayley
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This was our bonus room.

bonus room before greyhouseharbor.com

We used to have the craft table up here and the space served as our combined office/entertainment/catch-all room. At first it was nice to always be working/crafting/gaming together, but then it got crowded and seriously messy. (Photo from 2013)

bonus room before greyhouseharbor.com

It’s also where all our guests slept budget-style on a blow-up air mattress. Five star experience when you stayed with us!

bonus room before greyhouseharbor.com

The thing is, it’s an awesome space with 10′ tall ceilings and abundant sunlight. It just had been neglected and underutilized for far too long.

bonus room before greyhouseharbor.com

Not to mention,  I already stole the green desk for the studio downstairs; thus sabotaging Handsome’s work set up (if that’s what you want to call this labyrinth of electronics). Don’t even get me started on that hideous office chair.

bonus room before greyhouseharbor.com

Handsome and I are very different people when it comes to surprises.

I love them and he.
does.
not.

Which stinks because I equally enjoy planning/implementing a surprise and being surprised. But Handsome likes to be prepared, mentally and physically, for any given situation. So, I have adopted a sneaky compromise.

You see, when Handsome travels for weeks at a time or deploys for months on end, I have a distinct advantage in the surprise department. I don’t feel obligated to tell him about the “special projects” that I work on while he’s away. Then when he comes home, I get a little of that surprise factor and he’s usually so glad to be back that he doesn’t mind that I’ve kept fun secrets. Most of the time the big reveal is just stuff I’ve built or rearranged for the house. But in our pre-kid days, I even managed to purchase the actual skiboat that he learned to water-ski on as a child (and held true affection for) from a family friend and shipped it 800 miles to greet him!

I digress.

With the kids and I relocated to the new studio, it was high time our favorite guy get a space all his own. So I decided the bonus room would be my next target for a surprise makeover. The look I set out to achieve was “sophisticated mancave.” The new space had to function comfortably as his office, the guest room, family hang out and provide storage solutions for currently homeless decor and books.

Today I wanted to share a few of my inspiration photos (all courtesy of Pinterest, duh).

A masculine workspace was a must. I like the industrial look that’s all the rage right now, but I also didn’t want it feeling overly rustic.

bonus room inspiration greyhouseharbor.com

Both this room and the one below have grey walls, chunky crown molding, and a dropped detail molding. Definitely liked that. The muted palette and book display in this one are cool, but overall it’s too mid-century chic.

bonus room inspiration greyhouseharbor.com

Handsome doesn’t have trophy heads to mount, but I wanted to incorporate items that do reflect his interests and hobbies. A leather pull-out couch for overnight guests would be nice and a grey/brown color scheme to finish the look. This particular room is a little too gothic.

bonus room inspiration greyhouseharbor.com

Bookcases were key to getting all his books and mementos displayed in an orderly fashion; looked up several ideas for how to style all that stuff.

bonus room inspiration greyhouseharbor.com

I also wanted to camouflage the TV into an eclectic gallery wall similar to this, with a furniture piece below for additional storage.

bonus room inspiration greyhouseharbor.com

So I started with a blank slate: white walls, builder grade carpet, no moldings, basic window trim, and zero furniture. I couldn’t post any of this in real time (while Handsome was gone) because he reads the blog and would find out! But now that the room is finished and he is enjoying it very much, I’ll be sharing a few posts about how his new sophisticated mancave came together.

Just keep in mind that while the posts will only take a couple weeks to write, in reality it took me several months and a village of help to pull it together!

Tags: bonus room, mancave, our home
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4 comments
Aug 31 2015

summers of swim

Posted by hayley
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Last summer we put in a pool.

Well, I mean, WE didn’t put it in… hello, I’m not that hardcore DIY. But basically the whole summer I doubled as project manager extraordinaire from concept to completion of our backyard makeover.

As swim summer #2 begins to fade, I realized I never shared this epic home improvement project on the blog! And if I wanted good pictures with all our landscaping in bloom, I’d better take photos like yesterday. So sorrynotsorry for the image-laden post that follows.

I searched for a “before” photo, but apparently didn’t take one. Probably because it was just really boring grass. This is as close as I could find — a few days prior to the big dig, we rented a sod cutter and salvaged what grass we could to put on the other (muddy) side of the house.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

For a project this big (and this permanent) I wanted to be sure all the contractors knew precisely what we wanted. The pool guys said they’d never had a customer draw such a detailed schematic before. That’s how I roll — details #likeaboss.

poolFirst step was to dig a gigantic hole with an excavator. Watching our backyard being ripped to shreds, I had to breathe slowly and repeat to myself “this will be ok, it will all turn out fine” the entire time.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

A west coast gal at heart, I was only familiar with concrete pools, but they don’t install those in the east because the drastic flux in soil temps would crack the concrete. The options here are either vinyl liner or fiberglass because the walls have just enough “give” to flex without breaking. While more expensive up front, we went with fiberglass because it’s less maintenance long term and it was literally in the ground and swimable within 48 hours.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

I said swimable in 2 days… but not totally done. For a solid month (while the pool “settled”), I swept sand from every blessed corner of my home: the couch, the kids bedsheets, the garage, the carpet, and everyone’s clothes. I may or may not have emotionally second-guessed our choice at this point.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

All this construction took place during Bug’s obsession with “diggers.” He enjoyed the fact that our backyard was a giant sandbox much more than I did.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

I have never been so happy to see men pouring concrete in my life. We spent the rest of last summer laying new sod, re-plumbing irrigation, designing and planting landscaping and perfecting DIY pool maintenance — with lots of swim breaks in between!

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

A year later our plants are a little bigger, the grass a little greener and we could not be more pleased with the transformation.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

We saved our pennies up to purchase a nice upholstered conversation set for the patio this year. So fun having real adult outdoor furniture!

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

Some day I’ll get around to a DIY coffee table for the middle… maybe next summer.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

The yard looks twice as big since adding the pool; still with plenty of grass left for a competitive game of cornhole.

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

It was quite the adventure turning a builder-grade yard into the space we had envisioned, but now that’s it done I am quick to say the effort was absolutely worthwhile. Having a welcoming space to fill with friends, weekend cookouts and the sound of cannonball laughter has been tremendous fun.

In the end we didn’t just put in a pool — we invested in the childhood memories of our kids and created a backyard mecca for quality family entertainment. Long live summer!

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

gorgeous backyard makeover greyhouseharbor.com

Tags: backyard, before and after, home improvement, our home
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Aug 16 2015

the sniff test

Posted by hayley
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We live on one military income. I contribute a few bucks here and there with freelance artwork/graphic design, but our budget is based solely on Handsome’s provision. We are comfortable, but not extravagant. I shop clothing sales, thrift stores, Walmart groceries and tackle a lot of DIY to stretch our dollars as best I can. Craigslist has been kind to me: providing several home & child accoutrements at a fraction of the cost. Most of the time I’m even able to re-sell outgrown items for nearly (if not exactly) what I paid for them.

95% of my Craigslist purchases have been awesome. Nice people, fair price, smooth transaction, no creepers. I did have one nightmare experience where I drove 6 hours round-trip alone with both kids to end up NOT buy something that was clearly broken and totally misrepresented. That was a major bummer, but I henceforth set a travel limit of an hour — no matter how much me likey.

And then along came this console table.

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

I only drove 15 minutes to buy this antique beauty and I got it for a song. Solid wood, gorgeous detailing, perfect shape and size.

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

Problem was… the lady I bought it from had it sitting on her covered patio. I only saw it on her patio, purchased it from her patio, and never once stepped foot inside her house. It needed some work, but I saw it’s potential and wasn’t afraid to put in a little elbow grease.

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

As I drove my new treasure home, the car began to smell. After sitting in my house overnight, the entire living room reeked of cigarettes. Turns out, the table smelled to high heaven. It was as if the poor thing had been sitting in the corner of a nasty dive bar for 50 years. Just look at the thickness of this horrible waxy buildup…

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

After dry scraping a majority of the table, it still stunk. So I tried chemical paint stripper. The vile sludge that came off that thing was downright vomitous. This was not going to be a quick fix.

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

It took me 3 afternoons and a few minor chemical burns to get it down to bare wood. Then I repainted, restained, and applied 3 coats of polyurethane.

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

Looking sharp, right? That’s what I thought too. Until I put it in our bedroom. Woke up with a headache and my room smelling like the aforementioned dive bar.

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

I couldn’t believe that after all that work the table still had the aromatic potency to clear a room. But I also couldn’t bring myself to sell it (and lie about it’s stench) or trash it (I’d put in so much sweat equity)!

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

So I put it on my covered patio. For 3 months. Hoping and praying that all it needed was some fresh air.

console table makeover  greyhouseharbor.com

Turns out, I was right. The little blue console could finally come inside without offending anyone and now lives happily in our master bedroom. If you smoosh your nostrils reeeeeal close, there is a dainty hint of this beauty’s past life of neglect, but she not longer defiles the room.

Moral of the Story: from now on any and all Craigslist purchases (wood furniture included) will be subjected to and have to pass a stringent sniff test.

Tags: furniture, our home, trash to treasure
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5 comments
Aug 3 2015

studio update

Posted by hayley
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Remember that one time I painted over a beautiful mural in our previous playroom to transform the space into a working studio? Now I’m finally getting around to writing a follow up and sharing a few organizational solutions.

Drum roll please… Ta-da!

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Yes, the room is white on white and I like it that way. Something about a crisp, well-lit space totally motivates me to do good work.

Less visual clutter = more creativity.

I did keep the blue sky, however. Painting a decorative ceiling is hard (shout-out to my homeboy Michelangelo), so I’m not parting with that piece of the magic anytime soon. The studio table that I built from a rescued sanctuary door is the central workhorse of the space. I did end up staining the legs with Minwax “Special Walnut” finish and 3 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

It’s almost as if these Alex drawer units from Ikea were made for underneath the table – a perfect fit. I put one on each end to hold all our art papers, stickers, foam, construction paper, scrapbook supplies, stationary, stencils, and every other flat supply.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Between the two drawer units was just enough room for two Bekvam step stools and a small trash can. Because I wanted this room to be kid-friendly, the step stool seats were important but it’s really nice that they tuck out of the way so no one trips over them when not in use.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

The back wall has 3 bookcases from Ikea’s Billy collection, 2 of which have the optional Oxberg glass panel doors added.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

The original doorknobs were ultra modern and ugly, so I replaced them with these stylish oil rubbed bronze ones I found at Home Depot.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

A place for everything and everything in its place. Makes my tidy heart happy!

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com update-4

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Ever buy tiny summer clementines in a wood box? Long after the citrus is devoured, they make great storage containers.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

The door panels hide all the non-pretty gadgetry on the lower shelves. And the power strip solution is working flawlessly, too. My Sizzix die cutter, pencil sharpener, and sewing machine are always plugged in and ready to rock, without being in the way.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

The kids know they have to ask permission to use anything inside the doors (messy, dangerous, mommy-only type things). But the middle bookcase I left open. This is where their crayons, markers, paintbrushes, and coloring books live for easy access any time they’re feeling creative; which is several times a day most days.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Originally belonging to my great-grandmother, this antique sewing chest is at least 80 years old. It was recently passed down to me and does a wonderful job of keeping my sewing knick-knacks contained. All my extra fabric is hidden in those woven baskets atop the bookshelves.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

This little green desk has played many roles in our homes (tv stand, work nook, coloring table). Now it’s the perfect spot for my computer. I plan to do a few small organizational things in this corner to help it function better as my mini-office.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

Spill proof flooring is a must in a creative space with kids. In fact, a rather unfortunate (and permanent) incident with red paint on carpet is what pushed me to rethink this room in the first place. Eventually we plan to install wood flooring throughout the first floor, so it’s nice not having to worry much about this carpet in the meantime.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com

So are you still wondering if I miss the mural and playroom? Nope, not really. The kids and I spend so much time being creative together in here that the risk was worth the reward.

With all the right kinds of storage and kids constantly gathering around a tin of freshly sharpened pencils, the new studio is a breath of fresh air – and quickly becoming my favorite room in the house.

Art Studio   greyhouseharbor.com update-9

Tags: our home, the studio
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I'm Hayley. Wife and mother by day, DIY enthusiast by night. Fueled by sweet tea and jelly beans, I own power tools and know how to use them. Consider yourself warned.

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