Just Call Me Ms. Fix It!

Disclaimer: There are no pretty pictures in this post. Scroll down for that kind of thing.

Do you live with broken things for weeks-months-years and wonder what life must be like to just be able to fix it yourself?

I do.

In a perfect world, I'd just hire someone to do it for me, but the truth is, there are TOO MANY broken or unsightly things in my house to pay others to fix all of them. In a one-income home with a special needs child (which for the uninitiated, translates into thousands of dollars in therapy bills), we have a rather lean home fix it budget.

And no - I don't have a handy husband.

But whinecrywhinecrywhine...it is what it is. And lately, I've been thinking it's time I try my own hand at being handy.

My inaugural project was actually handed to me in the guise of my four year old daughter handing me a piece of a bathroom faucet.

This particular faucet belongs to "the kids' bathroom" - a room in which I spend as little time as possible. The floor tile is cracked, the lighting fixture is hideous and the cabinetry is just plain enough to escape looking obviously cheap. I'm usually too busy averting my eyes from the maroon accent tiles to care about the tacky little sink faucet. But now that it's broken...

...I've taken notice.

And while my initial reaction was to add it to the list of things that we'll finally fix a few weeks before we put our house back on the market (which should will probably happen sometime in 2017) - something made me stop and reconsider. It was probably the "I'm almost 40 and in serious need of some life direction - hear me roar" voice that keeps popping into my head lately, demanding that I get off my ass and DO SOMETHING already. But either way - It occurred to me that I could just replace the faucet myself.

After looking under the sink and seeing how simple of a job it would be - turn off the water, remove the old faucet, install the new one - I thought, "this is it." It would be my first foray into the world of simple home projects.

Okay - my first foray was actually installing some sliding closet doors that we desperately needed, but they're not all that attractive and I'd prefer that my "first foray" say "new and shiny," not "functional and not terrible looking."

So. First stop - the closest home improvement resource, which would be Home Depot. I used to feel like I needed a nap after five minutes in these giant warehouses...but excitement over this new adventure (and the three children climbing in and out of the cart) kept my previous apathy at bay.

We picked up some pumpkins on our way into the store, because who DOESN'T make seasonal impulse purchases when kids are involved? And we then made a beeline for the bathroom stuff. Which means we looked at paint chips, exclaimed over hoses and searched for the restrooms on our way to the bathroom stuff (again - kids).

After finding the best size/cost option for my needs, I put two faucet boxes in the cart. My own bathroom faucet is also pretty bad, and I was feeling ambitious.

Savvy home improvement shopper that I am, I noticed a list of tools I would need printed on the box. And I knew that we didn't own "channel pliers." So we forged on to the tool aisles.

At this point, I knew my time was running short with the kids. But before they made a break for the chainsaw display, I was able to snag one small item for my own bathroom cabinet: a knob. The original one fell off a year ago and I've been meaning to replace it...well, you know - see above for an explanation on what happened there.

Finally, we made it to the cash registers with our pumpkins, faucets, pliers, knob and three candy bars (what - you don't buy entrance AND exit bribes?). And then we were off!

Once home, I was able to restrain myself from destroying the kids' bathroom just a couple of hours before teeth brushing time...but it was a near thing. I was PUMPED!

I waited until the next morning after putting Oliver on the bus and the twins in from of a DVD. And THEN I was finally able to get to work.

I pulled out my tool bag...

Doesn't everyone keep their tools in an Arizona Trader Joe's bag?

...got organized...

...and opened my shiny new faucet.

Doesn't that look SO much better?

Of course, I first had to turn turn off the water. But guess what? Those knobs are really tight! It was obvious that I was going to have to use a wrench or something. But before I took care of that, I couldn't help myself. I just had to see how hard it would be to loosen those...um...things that held the other faucet in place under the sink.

NO! I didn't create a geyser of water in my bathroom.

Honestly? I couldn't if I tried. No matter what angle I used, I could not fit that damn wrench in the tiny space around the...things.

Talk about a buzz kill. This job was no longer looking so simple.

And I wondered if a real handyman would actually remove pieces of the cabinet to be able to use a wrench. Or maybe they have special wrenches for tight spaces. The latter seemed more likely...

Not to be denied my new found status of "handy," I checked out the faucet in my bathroom. Maybe I could just replace that one.

I was denied. Same problem.

So after a few minutes of pissed off incredulity, I closed my mouth (which was hanging open in full teenager "affronted face"). And I admitted defeat.

But I still had one other project that I could do! I had my knob. And in just a few minutes, I took my bathroom cabinet from this...

...to this.

I don't like to toot my own horn...but ain't she a beaut?

I think I might name her. Yes, she is a her - like a boat, right?

So as you can imagine, I'm feeling very accomplished. There is nothing quite so satisfying as a job well done.

And the lesson to be learned here? Don't sell yourself short!

Think you need other people to fix your house for you? Look at me! If I can replace a knob on a cabinet, then you totally can too. I believe in you. And more importantly, I now believe in myself.

Sigh. Have any good references for a handyman?

Framing Odd-Size Prints with Standard Frames (two ways)

Last week, I posted some pictures of bedrooms for my children that I recently pulled together with a very small (non-existent) decor budget.

I bought cheap Target/Michael's frames for several prints I already owned - but some of the pieces weren't standard sizes.

Three were prints of room renderings...

...and three were pages from a children's book that fell apart.

Here is how I was able to frame all all of them without expensive custom work...

First, the book pages. We had a used book, Willy The Wimp, with great illustrations that my children loved. Sadly - they loved it so much that the binding failed and all of the pages fell out. I hated the idea of throwing it away, so I saved my three favorites assuming that I'd find a use for them someday.

And TODAY, that would be wall decor for Oliver and George's room.

The images were square sizes, so I looked for frames with those dimensions. Since none were a perfect fit, I thought I'd buy ones with mats and mount the pages on top of them instead of behind.

All I needed was a blade, a straight edge (like a ruler) and a piece of cardboard to protect my table.

The first page included a border, so I thought I'd just use that for my cut line.

But - AARRGGHH! - as soon as I finished, I realized that it was now too small to mount over the mat!

Seriously - dumb mistake. But before I tossed it, I tried cutting the middle border off of the mat (which was supposed to hold four pictures) and putting an extra unneeded page behind the mat to fill in that gap.

Not perfect - but for a kid's room? It's fine.

In the future - one improvement I would make on this would be to use another piece of paper to cover the cut of the mat. It would create an additional border for the image and there wouldn't be any gap - noticeable or not.

The other two images filled the page, so I just needed to trim the ragged edges. One had a small tear...

...but again - for a kid's room, it's barely noticeable. My six and four year olds certainly aren't complaining...

I think they look pretty great!

Next - the prints of watercolor room renderings.

My mother gave these to me years ago, thinking that they'd look cute in frames - possibly in a bedroom. I never got around to it for my own room, but they're perfect for Eleanor.

I knew I'd have very small wall space to work with and frames with mats would be too big. So I found some that would almost fit allowing for just a little space around the images.

Since they didn't come with mats, I picked up some art paper (sold by the sheet) that I thought would provide a neutral background. A pattern or color would also have looked nice - but in this case, the border wouldn't be uniform and the effect would be odd.

The rest is obvious. I trimmed the images (which were mounted on sheets with printed borders) and then cut the art paper to fit into the frames.

Ta da! Took just a few minutes, not a lot of money...and for a little girls room? They look adorable.

Sometimes I think I avoid doing projects around my house because I know that it will look amateur. Well - maybe so - but amateur is better than nothing when you have limited means!

I'm going to go for it a little more often - things can always be re-done by professionals later.

The Demise of our "Opium Den" and an idea for Inexpensive Wall Decor

It's occurred to me that I really should have taken some "before" pictures so these snapshots of my kids' new bedrooms would look extra impressive...

You see, they were practically empty before. Like quilts and pillows on the floor/storage space empty. So while the transformation is not exactly Elle Decor material...it's pretty freaking impressive!

 The view of Eleanor's new room from the door.
(I think it needs a 4x6 rug - possibly something yellow...)

When we moved into this house, the twins slept in two cribs in the larger room and Oliver had his own crib in the smaller room. Then when he turned two, we put him in a toddler bed. And when the twins turned two 18 months later, we got rid of their cribs too (but only because they were treating them like jungle gyms).

 Her much anticipated bed!
(not sure where we got the quilt...it was hanging in a closet...probably a grandparent sent it)

And that's when our normal sleeping situation began to derail.

We had plans to move Oliver into a regular twin bed and use his toddler bed and a new one for George and Eleanor. In the meantime, crib mattresses on the floor worked for the twins.

THEN, Chris took Eleanor to a family gathering on the West coast for a weekend and I put George's mattress in Oliver's room for those two nights (since he had never slept in his room alone before). And of course, Oliver loved this fun new arrangement.

 Dresser and book corner.

SO when Eleanor returned, we put the twins' crib mattresses in Oliver's room next to his toddler bed...which meant we had to move his dresser into the other room...

And that's when it really started getting weird.

 A little styling for the dresser using some of my own childhood nicknacks.

They would play at night before falling asleep (so cute!), and after a few two many head bonks on the toddler bed, we moved that out of the room as well. Leaving only the mattresses, a side table and lamp.

 View of the boy's room from the door.
(I know - I don't love the ceiling fans - but they are a must for this house in the summer!)

We planned to move all three to the bigger room with a twin bed plus two toddler beds set up - but (surprise!) we never seemed to get our act together. Until now almost TWO YEARS LATER.

 With real beds! And their father's idea of appropriate wall decor for boys.

During that time, I had to move the side table and lamp out since the twins would climb on the table during nap time (noticing a roughhousing pattern here?) And the mattresses finally had to go once I noticed that they never got slept on anymore and were generally used to make "caves."

So after a few months of spreading quilts on the floor for beds and seeing our six year old and four year olds sleeping in a big puppy pile every night, we decided it was time to stop the madness.

 MY wall featuring some Key West touches! Details below...

So now you know my dirty little secret. For years, my children have been sleeping in a room that I called "The Opium Den."

Obviously another "Dad" pick for room styling.

The pictures above show the very normal bedrooms they have now. Buying three twin mattress sets at once was pretty expensive  though (even from Costco where we found a fabulous deal), making a decor budget non-existent. So I had to stay with the current wall colors and use whatever accessories we already had (with the exception of sheets and some picture frames).

Here are some details and sources if you're interested.

I mentioned in the captions that I used a lot of my own childhood things for Eleanor's room:

An antique doll, some boxes from that collection I recently wrote about and a poster I picked out as a teenager have all been packed away just waiting to be put in Eleanor's room someday...

I also pulled some decor from the twins' old nursery:

I literally switched curtains between the two rooms. So simple. And those adorable garlands were an Etsy find via Middleburg. Looks like they currently have sheep, bunnies and roses - but I've seen far more options in the past - so if you're interested in seeing other garlands, I suggest contacting them.

We found every "girl" book in our house and put them in a basket for her own personal library (as you can see above everything else is in the boys' room - in a big jumble...must fix that).

The paintings over her bed are two Janet Hill pieces and a custom miniature from Studio Lara that I had in my own room (the sacrifices I make for my children...)

And over her dresser are two multimedia "fashion pictures" that my Aunt Jan (Eleanor's godmother) sent her for Christmas. Eleanor calls them her "Barbie pictures."

The dreamy doll print above them is from Du Buh Du Designs (if only I could manage to snag one of her actual dolls...they disappear from her Etsy shop seconds after she lists them!) I picked that up long ago thinking I'd eventually put it in Eleanor's room.

Finally - I had three watercolors of interiors (prints, that is) I received from my mother years ago. She always thought they would be a sweet addition to feminine bedroom decor if trimmed and framed. Never did pull that together for myself...but lucky Eleanor - they're now hers!

One is next to the window and the other two are next to the door.

I did have to pick up frames for the Du Buh Du print and the three interiors, but at least the doll fit neatly into a Target frame with a mat.

The watercolor pints were an odd size and while custom framing would have been nice, I couldn't afford that. Instead, I picked up three plain frames without mats and some art paper for mounting. I took pictures of the process - but I'll get to that later. First some details about the boys' room (not many though as - sports posters?...not that interesting).

Last year we were given a super cute book called Willy the Wimp. A used book to begin with - it fell apart from the constant manhandling and it had to be put aside. But I couldn't bring myself to toss it. Instead, I held onto a few of my favorite illustrations with plans to eventually frame them.

They look pretty good right? Again - this was a very unskilled DIY project. But for a kid's room, who needs fancy? I have some pictures of what I did, and I'll get to that momentarily.

The other pieces of the room that I like are the hooks...

...which can use for jackets in cooler weather and bathing suits in the summer. It was supposed to go in Oliver's nursery years ago, but we never got around to hanging it (another lazy pattern of ours...there are many).

But the wall I like most, hosts one of the Willy the Wimp pictures and two Key West pieces (and the curtains from what was previously Oliver's room):

The poster of the train is a signed Fantasy Fest poster that my parents sent us years ago. That I DID frame and put in Oliver's room. The frame came from Michael's - so it's very much in keeping with our theme of "cheap."

But that little guy above the window? Is actually one of the picket fence fish that we sell in our online shop!

That was also in Oliver's old room over the same set of curtains.

Obviously there is still more that can be done in these rooms... Eleanor's room needs pillow shams and a more useful coverlet (the antique quilt probably shouldn't be used for sleeping...) And as I said we will eventually put in a little rug to cover the worn/stained wall to wall carpet that isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Also - I didn't show a picture of her closet. The accordion doors are kind of falling apart. Nothing ever fits in these 70's custom-size closet spaces. I would love to demo all of them and start over! In the meantime, a curtain may be more practical.

The boys room is pretty much done. But they'll need cold weather bedding in a few months. I'll probably be shopping for a shelf soon though, as Chris' mom is sending us his childhood collection of - wait for it - BOBBLE HEADS!

God help me. It just keeps getting better...

I had meant to include details and images of the little frame jobs I did for Eleanor's prints of interiors and the boys' Willy the Wimp pages. But this post is out of control! Far too long. And I'm exhausted. So I'll do a separate DIY post on that soon.

If I don't get to it before tomorrow - have a great weekend and Fathers Day!