Under Bed Storage

Justice has a small but decent sized room. She needed storage options to help her stay organized. So as I mentioned before, her platform bed was built with storage in mind. Of course Pop Pop doesn't concern himself with what's pretty. His suggestion was large plastic bins. WHAT? I said NO very quickly. I was also very concerned I'd visit one day and find all her dirty clothes shoved under the bed. Not if she ever wants me to do her room again.

I love baskets. Big clutter busting baskets. Pop Pop and I went shopping around one day looking for inexpensive baskets and a rug. I don't have a picture of the rug yet. So you'll see it in the After photos. But we found a perfect solid burnt orange rug. With all the pattern in the room a solid rug will help to calm things down. The baskets are another story.

Large baskets in our area are few and far between. When you do find them they are not even in the ball park of inexpensive. So I was lost as to what to do. We have nearly exhausted our supply of large pieces of scrap wood, so building boxes was out. Though wheeled boxes would have been awesome. Pop Pop came to the rescue again. Having worked at the Farmer's Market in the past he was very familiar with bushel baskets. So we set out for the market in search of two baskets.



Bushel basket from the Farmer's Market

We were able to buy two for $5.00 each. More than we expected but less than the baskets we had looked at. So still a great deal. Now to make them more attractive. We cleaned them out really well. Then on painting day we painted them to match all the other painted items. Using Olympic Aqua Bay paint.

Much better!

These baskets will sit comfortably under Justice's bed. On top of the hardwood floors. So I did worry that dragging them out each day would scratch the floor. So I cut out three large circles from felt. Then using Elmer's Craft Bond multi-purpose spray adhesive, I attached the felt to the bottom of the baskets. Scratch proof!

The adhesive held the felt very well to the basket

Money spent:
$10.00 two baskets
$24.99 rug
Everything else was on hand


Floral and Plaid Bedspread and Curtains for a Teen

Now that we have built a bed for Justice's room we need bedding. Curtains wouldn't hurt either. Fabric is one of my favorite design elements. It makes a room. I sat down with Justice at the beginning of all of this and we had a conversation about the fabrics. As I mentioned here, Justice picked the floral first. Then I suggested several fabrics that would coordinate.

Fabrics we are working with

Once we knew which fabrics we were going to use, we discussed how she wanted to use them in the room. I knew she needed a bedspread and curtains. Then there were accessories that would get a fabric treatment, such as a bulletin board, ottoman cube and upholstered bed. She favored the floral. So that was assigned to the bedspread.  I started by going to the thrift store to find a comforter in good condition. I found a twin comforter for $5.00. Threw it in the washing machine twice (just to be sure). Then measured it completely. Of course the fabric isn't the same dimensions as the comforter. Since the fabric would have to be pieced I decided to mix it up a little more. Once I had my measurements, I divided the longest length by three. Then cut out two panels of the floral, two of the plaid and two of the solid, adding an inch in all directions for seam allowance.

Completed bedspread

For the front I sewed the plaid in the middle of the floral. I did the same for the back, putting the plaid in the middle of the solid. Then sewed the two sides together on one side. Ribbon was added over the seams all the way around, front to back. Two more sides were sewn up and one was sewn part of the way so that I could insert the comforter. Then closed it up using a ladder stitch. Here is an excellent tutorial on the ladder stitch. It was a revelation for me.

The reverse side of the bedspread

Then we discussed what type of curtains she wanted. Panels, valance or possibly a roller shade? Roller shade it is. I've made one before and loved it. So I was pleased with this decision, as it allows us to use two of her fabric choices and it's very attractive when hanging.

Roller shade

She picked the plaid as the main fabric for the shades. I lined it with the floral. The windows were measured. Justice has two very different length windows. I added two inches on all sides to allow for seam and to make the shade larger than the window casing. She has blinds so the shade could not be installed inside the window frame. I made a channel at the top for the curtain rod. At the same time I sewed ribbon onto the shade. There is four lengths of ribbon, placed several inches from the sides on the front and the back of the shade. When we hang the shade the ribbon will hold the rolled up shade. A channel was also made at the bottom to insert a dowel rod. This aids in rolling the shade. I picked up two inexpensive curtain rods for $5.00 each at a supercenter.

 The stripe fabric is to be used on accent pieces throughout the room. I'll show everything in use and detail in the completed room.

Money spent:

$5.00 comforter
$1.00 ribbon
$10.00 curtain rods

Upholstered Platform Bed For A Teen

Pop Pop did not like Justice's bed. At all. He has wanted to create a platform bed for her. Since we were doing her room he decided to add it to the "to do" list. Not to be outdone, I added an upholstered backboard to it. I also upholstered around the edge of the bed. So that when it's revealed it's  pretty.

Ends and cross bars

The mattress was measured. Then 2x12's were cut in half length wise. They were then cut  to size for the sides of the frame.  Once that was created we cut cross bars from 2x4's. We nailed those into place and covered that with OSB Sheathing. That's the pressed wood panels that look like chips all pressed together.

The bottom of the bed shows the construction

Five legs were cut from 2x4's and the edges were routed to make them more attractive. They quickly went from lumber to legs. Wow! The bed was made high enough off the floor to add storage underneath. Which I'll talk about in another post. On painting day we painted the legs to match the dresser and bookcase.

routed edges to finish off the legs

Olympic paint in Aqua Bay

Pop Pop had some left over foam insulation. It's just plastic foam. It had been cut for what he needed. Leaving a long narrow stip. Well, it was our lucky day. It fit the edge of the bed perfectly. We stapled that along three sides of the bed.

Foam insulation made great padding

To make the backboard we cut a piece of OSB Sheathing to the height we wanted for the bed. Then we cut it to fit the length of the bed. Two 2x4's were cut down and nailed to the back of the backboard. The backboard it's self will sit on the ledge of the bed. The boards on back will firmly hold it in place. We will screw it into place when we put the bed in Justice's room.

Upholstered and ready to go

Then we cut fabric to size and stapled it into place. As I said before the blue insulation foam was used for the bed. I bought a large roll of foam padding for the backboard. It was still a little too small so I had to patch it a little with the foam we already had laying around the workshop. Elmer's Craft Bond multi-purpose spray adhesive is excellent for holding foam to wood. I've tried several and so far this is my favorite brand. It's sticky but you can easily reposition. Then good luck washing it off your hands.

Upholstered bed

Once the fabric was in place, I sprayed it down really well with Scotchgard  fabric & upholstery protector. This will insure that the fabric does not need to be replaced in the near future. The final step was to put some clear contact paper over the OSB Sheathing to keep it from snagging the mattress. I already had that on hand.

We will be doing similar platform beds for the boys. Which we will start on as soon as Justice's room is complete.

Money spent:
$100 for lumber. Which is to be divided three ways. So $33 per bed. Wow!
Foam padding $16.00
Paint was paid for in a previous project
Everything else we had on hand

Afghan Made With Love

Earlier this year Nana made a beautiful afghan for me. I love it! It's a perfect weight for napping.

My afghan

Once Justice saw it she requested one of her own. Of course Nana can't say no to Justice. So we coordinated colors for her room.

Justice's afghan

I do apologize for not having details. This is not my project. Just a addition to the room I am working on.

Money spent: Around $15.00 for yarn

A Dresser Redo

Justice had  a hand-me-down dresser in her room. I think I mentioned (too many times to count) that we have a tiny budget. So replacing it was out. That means paint and lots of it. We started with this:

Before

Then we lightly sanded it to rough up the surface enough to hold the primer and paint. After sanding we gave it two good coats of primer, Kilz oil-based. We allowed the primer to dry for several days before painting.

Sanded and ready to paint
 

Already looking better with primer

On painting day, we filled up the paint sprayer with Olympic paint in Aqua Bay. I highly recommend the paint sprayer for a no streak finish. It's well worth the investment if you do a lot of painting. Paint goes much further with it too. I love this thing so much that it's difficult to get it out of my hands once the painting begins. It covers so nicely and so quickly.

Pop Pop gets a minute with the paint sprayer

The dresser was missing one knob. It consisted of four pull handles and originally eight knobs. It was decided that it would look more updated to change them out completely. We happened to have a set of oil rubbed bronze knobs in the workshop. Before we painted, the holes for the original hardware were filled in with pieces of dowel and wood filler. New holes were drilled in the center of each drawer. Fresh new updated look.

Gorgeous new dresser!

Money spent:

 $6.00 for the primer
The paint was purchased on a previous project.

Homemade Bookcase To Corral The Clutter

As I mentioned here Justice has a very old television in her room. I wish we could get rid of it.  The budget doesn't allow for a new one and she isn't willing to go without. So, I decided to put it to use.

Pop Pop and I built a small bookcase to sit on top of it to bring height to that side of the room and storage as well. We used plywood and some trim we had laying around the workshop. Filled dents and gaps with wood filler. Then sanded it as smooth as we could.

Ready to prime

Gave it a good coat of primer to make sure the paint goes on evenly.

Ready to paint

Then painted it a beautiful color. We used Aqua Bay by Olympic.

Cute storage!

Money spent: $25 for paint (we will be using it on other furniture items too)

Monkeys On The Wall - Wallart

As I mentioned before Justice likes monkeys. Since she is a fourteen year old girl and not a five year old I didn't want to go theme crazy. So, I found a way to add monkeys without it being too juvenile. There was the monkey pillow and now there is monkey art. This was an easy project that created a nice art display.

First I bought four frames from The Dollar Tree. Then I googled monkey silhouettes and found four that I liked and looked like they could be easily cut out. I printed those. Then I went through several wallpaper books that Nana has on hand. Having a former art teacher at your disposal provides a wealth of supplies. However, if you don't have that luxury you can use scrapbook paper or fabric. I then found two wallpaper prints that work well with the fabrics I'm using in the room. Then measured and cut those out on the paper cutter to fit the frames. Two backgrounds per color. I set those aside.

Stapling makes cutting so much easier

 

I used black construction paper for the silhouettes. Placing the print on top of the construction paper, I stapled it into place. This helps to hold it firm while you cut. I used an X-acto knife to cut out the tiny interior pieces. Scissors worked fine for the basic outline.

Cut the small interior sections first

Once it was cut out I used a glue stick to attach the monkey silhouette to the wallpaper. Then slipped those into the frames and simple easy art work was made. Justice loves them and they are not childish. Just fun!

Very detailed looking art work

Money spent: $4.00

Homemade Jewelry Tree and Ring Bowl

A young girl likes a little bling. So I thought Justice might like to have a place to keep her jewelry. In keeping with making as much as possible for this room design for free, I decided to make a jewelry tree. It was an easy project that will eliminate clutter and keep Justice's jewelry tangle free.

A jewelry tree fit for a princess!

Of course Pop Pop was there too. We took a 2x2 and cut it to the length we wanted.  A piece of scrap wood was routed around the edges to create a base. We then joined the two using a nail gun and wood glue. Holes were drilled in two places to fit our choice of dowel rod. We put glue into the opening and ran the dowel through and nailed from the outside to make the dowel solid. To keep necklaces and bracelets from falling off the end I added large beads to the end. Then I took the jewelry tree outside to paint. We had some shiny gold spray paint on hand. Two good coats were plenty. The bling on top was a rhinestone flower found abandoned in a parking lot. I hot glued it to the top to add some sparkle.  A little glitz and glam for Justice!

Bling!

What to do with her rings? Off hand I told my father I might pick up a bowl from the dollar store and paint it gold to match. He decided to give something else a try. We would build a bowl. What?

Wood scraps that came in handy

Yep! Laying around the workshop are circle cut wood pieces. We cut them out to create dog bowl caddies. Pop Pop used one as a base and using the router cut out the insides of two other pieces. When smoothed out with sanders and glued together they make a very nice bowl. The base had a little hole in it from the original cut. I cut a piece of dowel rod off and glued it into the hole. Then we added beads to the bottom with screws to make feet. I carried it outside and sprayed it down with the same gold paint as the jewelry tree.

This is actually a bowl we made later. It gives a good idea of how the rings are stacked.

Ring bowl made with love!

Matching set

After creating that awesome bowl Pop Pop wanted to try out some other bowls. Using the circle scraps we had already. We made a smaller bowl. Once it was complete it was kind of small for a bowl. It dawned on me that it might make a great coaster. So that's what we decided to do with it. Using spray adhesive I applied felt to the inside and bottom. We made three. One for each child. We are hoping that it will help to keep their furniture ring free.

Wood coaster

Money spent: 0

Throw Pillows and A Monkey...What!

What self respecting fourteen year olds bedroom would be complete without a hand full of throw pillows? Taking all of the fabric choices into account I sat down and designed and created several cute throw pillows for Justice's bedroom. I can sew. However, I am not a seamstress. So in many cases things are not as elaborate as I'd like them to be. Simply because I lack the know how. But I think they turned out well.

Have you ever priced throw pillow inserts? If your buying just one it's not too bad. However, I needed several. So I picked some up at the thrift store. I specifically looked for the kind with a zippered cover. This made cleaning them easier. I took the covers off and threw the pillow inserts into the washing machine and dryer. I paid $15.00 for a bag full. Some I didn't use. So they will get used in the boys room.

The fabrics we are working with

Justice has a little obsession with monkeys. So I thought I'd find a way to put a few monkeys into the design of her bedroom. I made this cute little guy to keep her company. I cut out the dark brown felt part in one piece. Then sewed the tan felt pieces on. Nana thought Justice would prefer googly eyes to felt eyes. So that is how I finished him up. Having been an art teacher Nana had tons of those on hand. The ribbon on this pillow I purchased at The Dollar Tree.

Isn't he cute!

This patchwork pillow combines all the fabrics I'm using in this room design. The back has the same turquoise color as the monkey pillow.

 Patchwork

I was so afraid of this round pillow. I just knew it was going to be impossible. I was shocked that it came out so well the first time.



Round floral

Accent stripes

Money spent:

6 pillows for $15.00
Ribbon $1.00

Total: $16.00

Upholstered Ottoman With Storage

In the last post I showed off our excellent thrift store buy. The little desk will fit nicely into Justice's room. Now we need something to sit on. Can't have a desk without a seat. So I asked my father, Justice's Pop Pop. If we had enough material on hand to build a ottoman cube with storage. Always up for a project he looked around and found what we needed. That word is coming up again: FREE!

Unstained ottoman

 We measured the space under the desk to determine how wide and tall it should be. Then we created the ottoman out of the thicker plywood. Making sure it was very well put together and durable. You just know she will be whizzing around her room on it.

Ready to be upholstered

We stained the inside and bottom with Minwax stain and sealer in Early American to give it a finished look. My father and I build and sell upholstered ottomans. So the foam, batting and upholstery tacks were already on hand. Using the accent fabric we had already chosen, we upholstered the ottoman easily. Wheels we had in the workshop make it easily mobile. We then trimmed it out with fringe to glam it up. As you can see we did try to line up the stripes. Oh well...

Cute mobile seating

Extra storage to help keep Justice's room in order

Money spent: 0

Thrift Shop Finds

As you can see here there isn't much furniture to work with in Justice's room. Keeping the teeny tiny budget in mind it was time to do a little thrift store shopping. My mother (Nana) and I hit up several of our local stores. We found pillows in one. I'll use those in a future project. The last place we visited had exactly what we needed. First we found a pristine white lamp with a white shade for $3.00. I knew right away that the shade would need to be embellished. Then we got really lucky. We found a cute little desk in great condition for $15.00. It will help to contain clutter and it's a great place to get homework done.

Cute lamp in perfect condition.

Great find! Tons of storage and in nearly perfect condition.

 The desk did need to be cleaned and touched up a bit. Easy! We wiped it down really well with Mineral Spirits to cute the grim. Then applied English Chestnut stain by Minwax with a built in sealer. Brand new!

Cleaned up and touched up.

When it came time to embellish the shade I gave Justice a couple choices. She decided she wanted Nana to crochet flowers for her shade. So that's what we went with. Nana has tons of yarn around the house so it was an easy project. Using a glue gun the flowers quickly covered the shade. It was supposed to be a little cascade of flowers. Yeah, once again things got out of hand. Now it's a shade in full bloom.

It's a bit crazy but very fun!

Money spent:

Lamp $3.00
Desk $15.00

Total: $18

Wall Art On A Budget

While digging through all the fabrics to find the perfect one for Justice's room I saw one I loved. We already had four fabrics picked. This one is not 100% right to mix with the others but I loved it. I showed it to Justice and she loved it too. So I decided I'd cut a piece out and turn it into wall art. This way she could use the fabric and not have to fully commit to it. It still coordinates just fine.

Gorgeous fabric!

It seems every time I say I'm going to do a simple project it turns into something big. This quick little project was no different. In fact it was the most time consuming project of all. I started with a 18x24 canvas. My mother, Marsha is a former art teacher. She is also a artist. She had a stack of canvases on hand. So that word FREE came into play again. I love that word. I cut the fabric to fit the canvas. Leaving enough to turn over the back. Also making sure that I centered the part I wanted to show. Then stapled it into place. The staples cooperated this day. Hooray!

Folded neatly and stapled firmly.

Here is where things got so complicated. It was a fine piece of art. That's it...fine. No glitz, no glam. This is a fourteen year old girls room. There has to be some bling! So I broke down and bought sequins and sparkly beads to embellish it with. Then I sat for hours and hand sewed them in place. Took a couple hours off and on each day for two weeks to finish it. It turned out really well. Not sure I'd do it again. Well, not today anyway...


The finished art!

Flower bead work.

Close up detail of the blinged out bird.

 

Money spent so far:

Bulletin Board $9.99
Beads $5.00

Total: $14.99