A Bit More Breathing Room... Living Room Makeover

     There is nothing I love more in the world than my family... BUT we all became a bit claustrophobic when trying to relax on this sofa at the end of the day.  Personal space became nonexistent.  We needed a change - not because we grew bored, but because we desperately needed some breathing room.  

Before

After

Aaaaaaahhh... I can breathe

Gotta love Home Depot for their fantastic sales on extra large rugs.

Found this old trunk while out thrifting for $12.00.  Tutorial coming soon on how we modified it.

You can never go wrong with extra seating.

My little reading corner of the sectional.

Scored at the Acorn Antique Show with this vintage typewriter for $25.00.

Details...

And a Bonus Share.  Found this little guy yesterday for $0.50.    Love him.

Alrighty, back to working on another project:  My laundry room.  

xoxo,

~*Abigail*~

Fit for a Tween... Bedroom Makeover (Again)

     My daughter has no problem reminding me that she is now technically in her "Tween" years.  Apparently, aside from the growth spurts, crushes, and oh lordy help me...One Direction songs on repeat - a bedroom makeover is a must for all tweens.  She requested this in the middle of our kitchen/dining/formal living room/living room overhaul, in which she received a resounding "No!" from Mr. Smitten and myself. Naturally, it only took a few more begging sessions before the hubby and I caved.

     There were specific items on her wish list that were required in this makeover: A full size bed, a new color scheme, a way to display photos that can be easily swapped for new ones, a decent sized desk, make more room to walk around her bed and it had to be "cool".   A little demanding, eh? We searched through stacks of magazines and photos on the web so I can get a better idea of how her own style was evolving.  It turns out she was drawn to Scandinavian decor and mid century modern pieces of furniture.  She also voiced her love for art murals.  Yep, my most difficult, frequent client - my daughter.

Before

The remnants of the Girly Chic tear down

After

     What did we do?

Got rid of ALL of her previous bedroom furniture *Easy!*

Found a Mid Century Modern Full Size Bed Frame *Waaaay harder than anticipated*

Found a once ugly, now painted pretty desk for $20 *Sahweeet!*

Purchased a cheap, smaller p.o.s. dresser and made it new again *Not for the impatient*

Created more space *Less clutter - score!*

The rest was all details *That was the fun part*

Oh and if you were wondering, yes, we painted her floor.

Used paintable wallpaper and wood framing: Lowes, Mirrors, lamps and shelves: Ikea

Art mural per the Tween's request.
Materials: Mechanical Pencil, Two Sharpies, a Red Eraser and a Whole Weekend

I used an antique book that I had purchased to create the ballerina skirt.
Don't worry, the book was already falling apart.

Ten points to the person who can figure out what book this is from!

I added some scenes from one of her favorite childhood books, "A Summertime Song."

The Tween Station

Installed a mirror on her wall that can be easily tucked behind her curtain.

We may have gotten rid of the bookshelves, but we'll never stop encouraging her to read as much as she can.

Twine and fabric covered laundry clips: photo display problem solved!

We swapped out the closet doors with curtains and added this re purposed file cabinet for extra clothes storage.

Blythe Doll mural

Just for fun

A couple vintage suitcases to store odds and ends.

     Regardless of the stress that comes with finding just the right touches for this room, this was one of the most enjoyable projects I've worked on to date!  Gotta keep my #1 repeat customer happy!

Next up: Living Room Mini Makeover

xoxo,

~*Abigail*~

Mish Mash Part 4 ... Pantry Conversion Reveal

Last week, I left you wondering why Mr. Smitten was inside the pantry closet.  

Well, today I'll let you in on what he was up to.  

First a back story (there's always a back story).  When I first decided to build an office/art room in the basement,  I didn't realize how very little time we would be able to spend together if one of us was on the computer.  With most of the basement still unfinished, the family rarely made a trip two floors down from the main floor.  The iMac slowly began to migrate to the kitchen island or the dining table.  This drove me up the wall, so when it was time to renovate our kitchen, I realized it was the time to do something about it.

A computer nook was a perfect solution: Getting work done while still having the "togetherness" we needed.  We transferred all of our pantry goods to our kitchen island and either moved to storage or donated what we didn't need from there.  If you're like me, you'll find that you don't really need all of your kitchen supplies on hand - cooking isn't exactly my forte.

No need for too much space as we've become more and more paperless.

Fantastic industrial photograph I found while thrifting.  

Another thrifty find - $2 and the color was already perfect!

We discovered her from an antique show in Ogden, Utah.   I'm still trying to research her name.
My daughter and I are a couple of vintage Bradley Doll fans.

Our perfect little vintage/industrial/modern/mish mashed computer nook.  

Next up, how we solved our comfort and exposed media problem...

XOXO,

~*Abigail*~

Mish Mash Part 3... Kitchen Reveal

I began this mini Mish Mash blog series a bit backwards.  

You see, it all started with the purchase of this monster of a sectional for our living room.

In no way shape or form do we have a large "great room" (living room, kitchen, dining in a big connected space), but trying to cram the fam on our three-seater sofa comfortably while watching an awesome episode of The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones was a bit of a challenge.  "You bought a bigger sofa, so what?" you ask?  I'll emphasize again - this sectional is a MONSTER and took up the already very little space (about a foot) we had to walk in between our kitchen island and our former sofa.  To add to that, our kitchen island was somewhat of a danger hazard.

Here's another reminder of how the Smitten kitchen used to look like:

I have jabbed myself in the ribs too many a times on this island corner.

Having to walk all the way around the kitchen to get to the dining room became a chore and we weren't about to return our new super comfy, bed-like, constantly falling asleep on sofa.  Our only option was to give the heave ho to a huge chunk of the island.

Discovery of the original selection of
flooring by previous homeowners.  WT Fuuuudge?

Look at all that wasted space!

 That also meant we had to get a new counter top.

Which then led me to analyze what I've had to live with since we moved in:
ALL OLD COUNTER TOPS MUST GO!!!

And of course which also led to new paint for the entire main area, an added back splash, new flooring and a completely new look for every room I could think of before the hubby could get a chance to give me a red light.  All of this on a limited budget.  It's been a crazy few months, to say the least.  

Here's how we pulled it off...

Our close friends gave to us this solid sturdy Boos Blocks butcher block as a gift.  Thanks, Matt and Jodi!

With a little muscle weight and sweat, sanded the piece until smooth and finger paint free.

Compromised with my need for an all stainless steel back splash and got a bit creative for a fraction of the cost:
A mixture of tile and stainless steel capped tiles and faux wood floor tiles = One hell of a savings!

Here's another recap of the evolution of the kitchen...

Yecchh

Meh

And now the new 

Smitten Household Kitchen...

I'm in luuurve...

Scored these fantastic lime green Tabouret metal stools from my have consignment warehouse: Rock Bottom Sales

My favorite part of the entire kitchen.

Different.. You know how I love different.

Bunt cake pans I found thrifting.  $0.75 each

Menu chalkboard: $1, Vintage Neiman Marcus mug: $0.75, Keurig: Priceless - I could not function if  ours died.

And check out ALL of this SPACE!!!  

Stay tuned for my next post so you can stop asking yourself why the heck I stuck Mr. Smitten in the pantry with a spray gun and a face mask.

xoxo,

~*Abigail*~