Monday, February 11, 2013

Laundry Room with Board and Batten


Back in 2010, I wrote a blog post on our laundry room makeover.  You can click the link below and read how it looked back then




We use our laundry room ALL the time!  We enter our house from the back and so it is the first room you see.  Over time things just got out of hand and I always felt a bit of unrest when I entered this room, so it was time for a CHANGE!!

This first picture honestly does not describe how much "STUFF" their was piled everywhere.  My hubby said, people don't want to see all that mess, so I picked it up somewhat before photographing the "before" shot.

 I had decided that I wanted to do a double board and batten on the wall opposite the washer and dryer so that each person had their own place to hang 2 coats, put their shoes and a basket to put their hats and gloves in.  I also wanted a bench so that they could sit down to do all of the above.

I started by measuring the wall and figuring the size of the battens I needed to put 6 on this one wall.  I knew I was going to repaint the wall, so I wrote on it quite liberally, making several adjustments.
 I had 6 black frames that were 9" across and I knew I wanted one for each person, so it made my measurements a little easier.
 The opposite wall in my laundry room has picture frames that I painted green on the inside and I still had plenty of paint, so decided to paint the wall green....well for a day or so!

 Once I figured out all my measurements, I went to the local hardware store and they cut everything for me!!  I used 5mm MDF because it is so cost effective.  I bought the white ones so that I didn't have much touch up to do once they were hung.  The entire wall of battens cost be less than 5 euros!!! LOVE IT!
 Well, here is the 2 days later when I decided I didn't want a green wall so I used an off white that I purchased in England last year and I love the softness of it so much more!  That is the great thing about paint, it is one of the cheapest changes you can make for a dramatic difference!
 Once repainted it was time to hang the battens.  The boards are so light and since my wall is solid concrete, I used MONTAGE KLEBER to attach them to the wall, simple, fast and super easy.


 As you can see in the above pic, once the glue was placed on the back, I lined it up, using a level and pressed firmly to the wall.  I had the first level of battens hung in less than 20 minutes.
 I knew I wanted to do a double layer so that I could hang a frame in each box, so the 2nd layer went up just as quickly as the first.
 Battens on this wall complete!
 I had purchased all the wood for the bench and basket holds, so just needed the assistance of my hubby to cut them and put them together.  This took a little longer, but we wanted it done so that it was sturdy.  I painted each piece of wood prior to cutting it, so that I only had touch ups to do.

 I had found SEVERAL pictures on pinterest, so we combined a few ideas and came up with our final project.  When you do things on the cheap, it is sometimes hard to look at pinterest because some of the pictures we found, that I would have LOVED, were totally over the top and looked rather expensive!

This was simple enough for what we needed!

I purchased 7 hooks, because I did complete the smaller adjacent wall in battens, so put a book on that wall for extra space.  I used a very heavy super glue to attach the hooks and later my husband sunk a screw into each hook just to anchor it.  Due to the wall being solid concrete, we did it the easiest way possible so that we did not have to predrill each hook!
 As you can see, I found very small nails to hang the frames, again, did not want to use something so large so that I had to mess with predrilling. 
Here is the view looking from the hallway in. 
This picture is a little dark, but wanted to show you that we had purchased these really cheap kitchen cabinets back in 2010 when we did our original makeover and we used them to store small kitchen appliances that we did not use all the time.  Well I condensed that all down, took off the doors and took out the 2 drawers and I now can fit 4 clothes baskets perfectly in it so each child has his/her own basket!

 Here is the finished wall and already in full use.  The space on the far right is slightly larger as that holds my boots and baskets and my shoes are bigger than my children's, so my husband created more space.  One thing I wish I would have done was make the bench slightly larger because it does make it a little more difficult to sit on it when the wall is filled with coats.

Each frame will eventually have the monogram of the person using that space.
 We measured and hung a shelf above so that I could decorate of course!
 Looking across to the other side. 

 You can see the small wall has 1 additional hook.  I also took this shot so that you could see the battens on the wall.


 Ever since 2010, I started using glass jars to hold my detergent and I love it.  I would like to find some vintage tin cups as my scoops, all in good time!
 Here is a better shot of the cabinet with 4 baskets.  I also have plenty of room to fold clothes as well.  The tall cabinet holds all our extra dried and canned goods. 
 The vintage dresser in the middle is also a great space to fold clothes.  It was my grandma's and I love it.  It is all chipped up and that is just the way I prefer my furniture!

Well there you have it, my laundry room, now dressed in curtains for a softer look, is now functional and complete! I do hope it stays like this for a long time!!!




Sunday, February 10, 2013

French wardrobe makeover




It has been months since my last blog post, so thought I would share my latest furniture makeover.  The above photo is my piece from the website, but I forgot to take a photo before we took it apart.  I have been wanting a Louis XV wardrobe FOREVER and I finally found one for a reasonable price and only 50 minutes from my house!!
 
My sweet hubby helping to load it in the car                                             
Getting it all packed in there!  I love European furniture because it breaks down for easy transport
With any furniture I buy from an unknown source, I always treat for woodworms.  This piece has several woodworm holes throughout it, so I treated it with HOLZWURM before bringing it into my house because woodworms can spread!! This is very common in antique European furniture.

Once treated, I fill in the holes because I don't personally like the look of unfilled holes, this is a personal preference

I then primed it with a cream color paint that I purchased at HOMEBASE in England last year.  I use Annie Sloan chalkpaint, that is supposed to require no priming, but I found that certain woods bleed and I did not want to waste an entire pot of ASCP on this piece.


I painted, sanded and waxed piece by piece and when it came to the back panel, I decided to use this beautiful wallpaper that I purchased at Laura Ashley when we were in England last year as well since it was gray and white.  
 
To make it easy on myself, I laid out the wallpaper and used sharp scissors to score the sides.


To keep track of white panel went with which piece of paper, I numbered the panels

I then used my big ole bottle of MOD PODGE to attach it; quick and easy
I didn't mind there it wasn't completely smooth since it was the back panel and it is going to be filled with lots of items; I like things that aren't too perfect looking anyways!


Fast forward to after it is put together.  It was super easy and it look all of 10 minutes, it is held together with 4 screws!

 When I originally bought it, I thought I would paint it and resell, but that is not going to happen, I love it and it is mine forever!  I painted in a mix of cream and Paris grey.  I hit the high points with Old White and then of course sanded it and waxed it with dark wax only.
 It is going to hold so many of my decorations, I love that it has a drawer at the bottom on the inside as well.
 You can see that the classic Louis XV crown is highlighted in Old White, just enough for a nice contrast
 Here she is in all of her French Glory!! Love, love, love it!