Toddler Halloween Costume

When my 2 year old said, 'I want to be Jake for Halloween', I knew I could buy the costume from the Disney Store.  

When I saw the costume, I was shocked by 2 things. First, how thin it was.  We live outside Chicago and Halloween is cold.  I hear sometimes it snows. 

My second shock was the price. At 40 bucks for such a pathetic outfit, I would still need the sword and good chance he would have to wear a jacket over it. 

I decided to make the costume.   I have a sewing machine but I have never used it. It's so fancy that I am afraid of it and NEVER have time to read the instructions.  But I can back stitch. Thank you years of cross stitching to ease my adolescent insomnia.  

Sorry I did not use templates and I haven't saved an exact step by step of how I did it. But I can tell you that most of the costume you can by ready made.  The blue sweat pants and white shirt came from Target.  They were warm and cheap so I could cut up the shirt and have no regrets.  The sword and the treasure chest pail were purchased on Amazon.com.  

The homemade bits were the headband, the vest, the detail on the shirt, and the boot covers. Get some felt, find a tutorial on making vests, and you can figure the rest out from there.  Here are a few pictures to get you motivated. 

Please note that the cost of supplies were equal to that of buying the costume. However,you still need a sword and treasure chest pail, right?  The store bought costume was paper thin and would have not been adequate for our climate.  My son is 3 now and still wears this costume, although its too tight and the boot covers don't stay on anymore.  He had a blast and so did I. Not bad for a mother who doesn't have time to sew and doesn't care for crafts.    

Forget Ikea and spray paint a bookshelf

Before rushing out to Ikea, check your neighborhood curb for preloved piece of furniture.  Spray paint covers a multitude of sins, is cheap, and at the least could buy you a bit of time before you can afford the new item.  Maybe by then, you can skip Ikea and go to West Elm?

My son needed a bookshelf.  I was going to take him for a ride on his tricycle, then head off to Ikea to buy one.  On our walk, I saw a bookshelf sitting by the curb.  It was EXACTLY what I needed. Short, sturdy, and paintable.  I asked the homeowner to save it for me, finished our walk, then rushed back to get the car.

The bookshelf used to be cream with flowers hand painted all over it. Sorry to say I do not have any before pictures because I wasn't thinking about that at the time. I was thinking 'I better snag this before someone else grabs it'.

But I do have a during picture.  Son wanted a blue bookshelf so I got some primer and high gloss spray paint and went to work.

It's gorgeous.  It holds all his books. It was free. So with about $10 in spray paint (and the nice shirt that I ruined because I keep forgetting to change before a project), I had exactly what I wanted.   Bargain.  So before you rush out to Ikea, Roomstore, or wherever, check out your neighborhood and spray paint something.  

Green baby girl nursery

Biggest lesson I would like to share with you:  If you are buying a house from someone who owns pets, request at least $2,500 for carpet cleaning.  AT LEAST!  We spent over about $1500 in new carpet, cleaning products, primer, and paint to deal with the animal urine in just ONE room.  On second thought, ask for all new carpet before you buy a house.  

One of the biggest rooms in our 'new to us' house had a little hidden surprise the day we moved in.  It stunk of cat piss.  Yes! We had toured the house multiple times, had negotiated plenty of repairs with the sellers, but in all our careful planning had failed to notice the stench of urine coming from the large front bedroom that was to be our baby#2 bedroom. Probably because the sellers had plenty of candles burning, fans going, and windows open every time we came over. We thought they liked to let the outdoors in. 

Oh, the fury and sadness I felt when we went to the house after getting the keys only to smell that horrid but recognizable smell. With the candles gone and the hot humid air, I almost threw up when I stepped into what was suppose to be my bun in the oven's bedroom.  

My husband, being a cat lover, wanted to blame the previous owner's dog.  But the smell was pretty bad in the corners of the room and the closet. Plus, the word's 'CAT POWER' had been scratched into the closet door. Likely the work a small child.  Or the cat.  

Anyway, before a single thing could be moved into that room, the smell had to be dealt with. Baby#2 wasn't due for another 4 months.  Her things could be put in other rooms. We would get the carpets cleaned. The smell would be gone in no time.  

WRONG!  

Carpets cleaned.  Still stinks. The subfloor had been soaked by the animal urine.  Home remedies like baking powder, vinegar, etc did nothing.  But at least I knew the subfloor was clean now.  Store bought products for animal urine applied 3 times.  Still stinks.  

The solution? 

EVERYTHING HAD TO BE CLEANED, PAINTED, AND/OR REPLACED.

The walls and ceiling had been painted in a mural which was not my taste, so we had intended to paint anyway.  However, we had not intended to paint as much as we ended up needing to do.   The smell of animal urine had gotten into every surface. It stuck to the walls.  I could smell it everywhere.  
  

I cannot deny the artistic skill that went into this mural. I even thought about keeping part of it but once the smell set in, I could not separate the mural from the memory of the stench.  

We cleaned the entire subfloor, trim, walls, and ceiling.  All these areas received at least 2 coats of BIN primer.  The subfloor got 3 coats.   Then we repainted the walls in a fresh green color, the ceilings were repainted white, the baseboard trim was painted white, and we had all new carpet and padding installed.  

Here is the after.  Bye bye woodland animals.  We even painted every inch of the closet.  So fresh, so clean, so NO more cat piss. 

We went with Spring Meadow in Satin.  

1 year on, baby girl loves her room and we are thinking of getting a cat. 

Blue Dining Room

Blue is a bathroom color. Or so I used to always think. But in a dark home with so much wood on the floors and the furniture, blues and greens make sense and look beautiful.  

I wanted a blue dining room and a red bathroom. Go figure.  

The dining room used to be olive green, with oak trim along the center. I wanted it all one color. I went with all one color- Valspar's Sauna in Satin finish to be exact.  

Check it out. 

Before in the olive green.  

See after pic:  light slightly greeny blue.  The before and after wall colors look very similar in this picture, but it looks even better in person. The area rug and the wall art look much more vibrant against the blue.  

The dining room is not finished.  I need more artwork, likely in Orange. I also need (want, whatever) another chandelier.  

Also, I have one regret. I wish that I had done Sauna in Eggshell instead of Satin.  I think Eggshell would have looked more sophisticated and not so, well, like something from a bathroom. More to come on this room. Promise. 

Gel Stain on the Mantel

There is so much gel stain left from the family bathroom cabinets, I decided to try it on the fireplace mantel. I would like to paint the brick one day too, but have to convince husband it will look nice. Nothing seems to coordinate with the  brick, but I digress.  

Check out the before and after photos of the mantel. 

After wiping with TSP substitute (because I had it on hand) and a sanding with extra fine sand paper. 

2 Coats of General Finishes Brown Mahogany Gel Stain later… 

 Up close of what happens after quickly cleaning. I didn't notice there were old wax drips on the mantel. Gel stain won't cover this and I will need to sand and stain again before I can put the gel topcoat over the entire thing.  

I must admit the darker wood makes the fireplace color more bearable. Although an all white fireplace would look great too ;-)  

Gel Staining Old Cabinets

My house was built in the 90s and by the builder grade cabinets, you can tell.  If money was no object, we would hire professionals to rip out the oak and replace them with taller, shinier, and less oakier (real word?) cabinets. 

But money is an object. 

My husband has been out of work for nearly 6 months now.  The only reason we are even tackling home projects is because you can only job search so many hours in a day before the need to DO something bubbles over.  With the hubs home all day long and paint being rather affordable,  we are getting things done around the house.

Therefore, I decided to transform the family bathroom without ripping anything out. I might update a light fixture, frame the stuck to the wall mirror, and paint things. But we aren't scraping out tile or smashing cabinets to bits.   

 I have been reading a lot about this miracle product that is gel stain.  Java Gel stain by General Finishes to be exact.   The product actually doesn't penetrate the wood, which suits us because these old cabinets need a bit of coverage on the damaged areas without trying to get the perfect painted finish that latex paint provides.  Our cabinets were crap-tastic enough to go for a slightly 'rustic' look.  If we put a few silver handles on them, we can even call it 'Industrial'? 

Anyway, General Finishes had Brown Mahogany on Amazon.com. I preferred the look of it to Java Gel Stain.  I could also get the Gel Topcoat in Satin from Amazon.  Great! That will do.  If it looks awful, then I am no worse off.  

Check out the before.  One big plus with these 90s cabinets is I was able to flip them over so that the water warped top of the left drawer would become the hidden bottom of the right drawer.  Yippeeeee! 

After scrubbing them clean, sanding with extra fine sandpaper, wiping the dust off, and 1 coat of gel stain. Terrible picture, I know.  Didn't realize that at the time.  

1 week later, I got to do the second coat of gel stain.  I did sand between coats.  Another week later, there was time to put on the gel topcoat in Satin.    Here are the drawers drying in the garage, propped up on painters pyramids.  

Here is the final product (2 coats of gel stain and 2 coats of gel topcoat later).  
I do hope to put on some satin finish handles.  Like the inflatable bathtub? 

Don't worry about the other hideous aspects of this bathroom- the tan colored vanity counters are going to be resurfaced, the wooden trim painted white, the walls painted blue or gray, and the grout painted and sealed.  
The cabinets took about 4 weeks.   We have an infant, a preschooler, and no family around to watch the kids while we get a project done.  I did this project in stages, each stage being complete after the kids were in bed.  It took me 2 weeks to getting around to putting the first clear gel topcoat on.  We had the doors in the garage and simply walked around them every day.  The bathroom was closed off for 4 weeks and the kids used our master bath.  That sort of long time between steps works well for busy families and for the gel stain.  The gel needs a long time to fully harden.  Don't rush it. If you are like me, you won't have a choice.  

My thoughts on this product? 

It's great. The product is like pudding, but you will still get drips.  Nail polish remover helped me tidy up drips that got on the bathroom tile.  Otherwise,  fully cover adjacent surfaces and wear clothes you don't mind ruining.  

Oh yes, and don't skimp on the prep.  WASH, WIPE, EXTRA FINE SAND, WIPE AGAIN!  Anywhere I didn't fully clean the surface shows when you put the stain on. Just check out my blog about the mantel piece to see what happens.  Please note I did not write this as a detailed how to.  I did what you are probably doing right now. I read a ton of other posts that had the list of supplies and went from there. If you really want more information from me, just ask. I am happy to respond.  

I look forward to sharing more d.i.y. projects with you. We plan on completely refinishing this bathroom without ripping anything out so stay tuned.  Not sure how it will all look when it's done, but will have to give it a go.