Children's Bedroom Makeover: Accessory #1

Are you getting anxious to see some of the projects for the Children's Bedroom Makeover we've promised you?  Well if so, you're not alone!  We too are eager to see everything complete!  While few things spell fun better than a little family DIY, seeing the finished project can be so rewarding.  It has been a crazy time here at the Wylie house trying to bring some of the many DIY projects to a close.  Between vacations, birthdays, tea parties (can't wait to share that with you all!), sickness, a few minor injuries, and our computer crashing, we have continually been pulled in other directions.  Such is life.  However, we do have a few of our smaller bedroom projects done and I would like to share one of those with you all today that I think is sure to please.  I just love it and couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  But more importantly than that, our daughter love's it - success! 
So roll out the red carpet, here comes Children's Bedroom Makeover Accessory Project #1... 

What does every great kids bedroom need?  Think smaller than the obvious here...it's something that doesn't even technically go in the room...figure it out yet?  It's a door sign!  What kid doesn't love announcing to the world that it's their room; especially in a fun and creative way that show's a bit of who they are/what they love?!  For our daughter that means horses and the color red, and while we could've transformed her old rectangle door sign to match the new theme, we ended up finding a hidden treasure at our local Goodwill store for just $5 - score!

Thrift Store find - Before
 

I'm willing to bet bunches of people passed this up due to it being so dirty and not to mention, way out of date!  Ick!  However, a good tip when you're going thrift shopping is to go with an open mind and think outside the box.  If you do that, you can end up with some really awesome projects once transformed!  A little vision and some paint can go a long way.  Just check out the transformation...

Patriotic Proud DIY Decor Project #2: Candle/Plant Holders

It’s a beautiful sunny day here in the Seattle area; especially for the first day of June.  I’m taking advantage of this rare warm & dry weather by typing this post from my lounge chair outside B-)…now if I only had an ice cold sweet tea to sip on!  Ahhh, then today would almost be as glorious as the 4^th of July.  Can you believe it’s only a little over a month away?!  I just love the 4^th - the yummy BBQ food, fireworks, and all the red, white, and blue – such a fun day and way to celebrate and honor our great country! 

What do your plans involve for the holiday?  Could you use some inexpensive, fun, and easy ways to liven up your backyard/patio for the festivities?  If so, I have a DIY project for you to consider: PATRIOTIC CANDLE/PLANT HOLDERS.  The basic idea was taken from a favorite of mine on pinterest, and then given our own patriotic twist.  I couldn’t find the original source of the basic idea to share with you today, so if any of you know, please share it with us in the comment section of this blog so that we can give them the proper credit.

Patriotic Candle/Plant Holder

 

*What you’ll need...

Patriot Proud DIY Decor Project #1: Butterfly Clips

I can't believe May is already coming to a close!  Didn't it just start yesterday?  Sheesh!  At this rate it's going to be Independence Day before we know it!  With that in mind, if you're planning a BBQ for the 4th, or if you're just patriot proud and enjoy making a few things of your own to show off those stars and stripes, then you've come to the right place my friend!  Today I'm going to share with you one of our two "Patriot Proud" DIY decor projects that we made last year: PATRIOTIC BUTTERFLY CLIPS - a "My Guy & I DIY" original!   The next post will be the second project - PATRIOTIC PLANTERS/CANDLE  HOLDERS - click here to view that project http://myguyandidiy.blogspot.com/#!/2013/06/patriotic-proud-diy-decor-project-2.html

Patriotic Butterfly Clips



 

 

*Materials Needed...

Repurposed Water Fountain

 

Our very first DIY/repurposed project is going to take us all the way back to the spring of 2011...O.K., I already know what you're thinking, and yes, we really didn't get started DIYing until then.  What can I say?  I guess it took us awhile to get on the whole DIY bandwagon...O.K. a long while, but we're here now and this is the project that started us in all this craziness!



Repurposed Water Fountain

This used to be a water fountain that belonged to our neighbors (sorry, no before pics were taken), which I'd always thought was gorgeous, so I was shocked to discover them one day loading it up into the back of their truck to take it to the dump.  Apparently the hose, which was really narrow, continually became clogged and they were tired of taking it apart and cleaning it - understandable, but to just throw it away?!  Uh, uh, no way!  How they could not see it's hidden potential, I have no idea, but boy was I a happy camper when they offered it to us for free!  They thought I was looney for wanting a fountain that didn't work properly and to them was just junk, but what they didn't know is that I had no intention of keeping it a fountain.  I wanted to turn it into a flower planter, and that's just what we did!  Doesn't it look gorgeous?!

Here's How We Did It:

Step 1 - pulled out all of the fountain components (tubing, pump, etc.).  This was actually rather easy because much of it was corroded and falling apart anyway and so it didn't require any cutting or sawing or anything like that.  (wish I had pics to show u :( , so sorry)
Step 2 - drilled five holes in the base for drainage.
Step 3 - sprayed it down with a pressure washer.
Step 4 - poored some gravel into the hollow middle column, mostly for stability (the bolts that once secured it to the base were long gone and broken), but also to help with drainage.
Step 5 - put a square planter into the top of the center collumn (we just happened to find one that just fit and didn't slide all the way down).
Step 6 - added dirt and perennial plants (I wish we would've given it a fresh coat of paint before doing so, but I guess this way gives it more of an old rustic look, which isn't so bad I suppose.)

And so there you have it - a DIY flower planter repurposed from a broken water fountain...here's some more pics and info just for your enjoyment :)

Where'd U Go?

Hello everyone!  If you joined me here @ My Guy & I DIY for our first entry, then you're probably wondering, "Where'd U Go?"  If so, I certainly can't blame you there.  It's been ages!  Or so it seems to me, so I'm sure it does to all of you as well.  Sorry about that!  We've had quite a few weekends out of town lately that has put us WAY behind schedule with our children's bedroom makeover, not to mention we've ran into a few snags with the toy cabinet project...o.k., o.k., maybe more than a few, but I think we've finally got some things worked out this morning and so we should now be well on our way to completing at least a few parts of some of the projects we've got going for the makeover...sigh...I hope...we're keeping our fingers crossed!  Anyhow, in the meantime, I thought I'd get going on some posts to show you some of our older DIY projects, as previously promised to keep you all "entertained" so to speak.  With that being said, see u soon!

Children's Bedroom Make-Over: getting started

Wow, I can't believe I'm starting another blog!  As if I don't have enough on my plate right now, lol...but I have these two new found loves - DIYing and blogging - so I figured why not combine them?  I had planned to start out by sharing how I got started into DIY, a bit on my husband and I's background, and also on how DIY became a family affair (ie. how I suckered him into it ;-)), but when I stopped and thought about it I decided I'd better just get to blogging with where we're at, which is knee deep in multiple projects...or maybe it's really up to our neck's?...anyway, we're certainly in the thick of it, so why not begin there?  Then, as I have time inbetween starting and finishing current and future projects, I will do some background posts and share some of our previous projects as well.  Sound good?  Feels a bit backwards to me, but hey, sometimes you have to just go with it.  So here we go!

Our daughter Ava turns four next week and she has been developing a passion for horses.  It all started with just an innocent little pony ride at the Issaquah Salmon Days festival a year and a half ago. While we thought maybe it was just a fad (since she's already had many of those), this one seems to have not only stuck, but continues to grow.  Just two nights ago, while driving by some farms to go and look at yet another possible DIY piece - a TV armoire, she begged us to stop to look at, pet, and ride the horses.  Of course we had to tell her that though we could look, we couldn't do anything else because they weren't ours.  This was not an easy thing to try to explain to a strong headed, logic free 4yr old.  After some discussion, which was really going nowhere fast, she simply stated, in her matter of fact tone, "Well, we'll just have to buy one then."  This of course led to some more "tried" explanation that went in one ear and out the other.  I have no idea where she gets it, ;-) wink wink, but when she sets her mind on something. she believes it's a done deal and stops at nothing to see that it is done.  In this case, since we have no intention of buying a real horse, we've decided that perhaps it's time to get rid of her green baby safari bedroom decor (:-( can't believe my baby's not a baby anymore), and replace it with a horse theme, which we have been informed must be red - Ava's favorite color.

What I've discovered in my horse-themed inspiration pursuit, and yes it's been a pursuit because I'm just not into horses in the least, is that horses are actually a quite popular thing for both young boys and girls to be into, so there's certainly an abundance of inspiration out there to be found.  Where the problem has arose is in the color.  I don't know why this is, and I'd really love to have a discussion with childrens designers out there because this isn't the first time we've ran into this problem, but somehow they must believe that every little girl wants to be this frilly little princess who lives amongst the fluffy white clouds, dancing on rainbows because everything that's made for girls, and I do mean EVERYTHING, seems to only come in these puky pastel and bright pinks, purples etc.  Turns out, it's no different even when it comes to horse themes for girls.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I have yet to see a farm that is pink or purple (real one's anyway) and this just isn't what Ava seems to be into either, and though I've tried repeatedly, she is not budging on the red choice.  Thankfully, after much searching and by removing the "girl" specification from my searches, I finally found a solution...I hope.

http://www.beyond-bedding.com/childrens-western-boys-horse-cowboy-twin-size-bedding-set.html

While we're still undecided if we're actually going to purchase any of these items, (we likely will get at least the bedding since I don't have a sewing machine), this is the inspiration and the look we're going for in her bedroom make-over.  Though this was technically made for a boy, and Ava isn't understanding how this equates to horses, I love the red bandana western print and think it's going to be the perfect solution for achieving a horse themed room that's red.  So now that the starting point is established, let me show you what's in the works...