Friday, August 29, 2014

Peepholes SHOULD be decorated!

There area great many things we learned from the TV show FRIENDS, like what it means to be "On a break" or that Lobsters mate for life or that Adam's apples are not named after each individual man. The thing I like to take away from it (at least for the purposes of this post) is that apartment peepholes SHOULD be decorated! For those of you who do not know FRIENDS is one of my all time favorite TV shows (followed  closely by LOST and That Girl) and my sister and I watch the show over and over and quote it to each other ALL the time! When I moved into my first apartment, I decided that I needed a yellow peephole frame for the back of my door like the one Monica and Rachel have in their apartment.

I went to the Internet first, and it didn't take long to find someone who sold a replica.  I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the near $50 price tag! I decided then and there to make myself one for less that a quarter of the price. So I did, and it has happily adorned the inner face of the doors of each apartment I have lived in over the last 7 1/2 years. My sister, has been quite jealous!

 
The end of July marks my sister's birthday and she and her family had just moved into a new apartment in Arizona. I figured now was a great time to have her very own peephole frame! So off I set to see if I could duplicate my fabulous creation.
 
I headed to Michael's craft store for supplies. I grabbed a 2 pound package of an air-dry clay. This is the one I used this time.
 


The first time around I used a cellulose clay. Any air dry clay will do just fine, but after doing this one, I think I prefer the cellulose clay simply because it dries much lighter than other clays. But again any air dry clay will work just fine. I got a bottle of the perfect "Monica's peephole frame yellow" (Martha Stewart multi surface paint in Pollen with Satin finish- I am obsessed with these paints!) a package of paint brushes and I was out the door before I was tempted to spend more money on random crafty things. Haha!

My first step was to divide the clay info 4 sections. 2 long sections and 2 shorter ones. You can make this frame in any dimensions that you like to fit your needs.  My frame was about 7 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches.

Once I had more 4 sections, I googled images of the FRIENDS' yellow peephole frame, and using some clay tools that I had, (available for purchase for a few bucks at any craft supply store or you can just use toothpicks or other household items) started carving out the design of the frame.  You can add drops of water onto your clay to help smooth things out as you go.



After I was satisfied with my work and made sure that all 4 pieces fit together, (put your 2 shorter pieces as the top and bottom and your 2 longer pieces for the sides) I let it dry in the open air for a couple of days.



I then hot glued the pieces together at the joints, doing my best to smooth out  any excess glue to make it as invisible as possible.


 
Once the hot glue had dried I got to the painting. Pretty self explanatory there.
 



I hung my peephole frame using command adhesive strips, which make for a strong hold as well as easy removal for an apartment setting.  I wasn't sure which method my sister would prefer for hanging, so I simply sent it to her as-is. It turned out so great!


She just received it in the mail this week (I am WAY behind on birthdays this year ,sigh!) and she LOVED it! I have so much fun making this craft! Its fairly simple and doesn't take a whole lot of time. For the FRIENDS fan in your life, however, it is a simply AMAZING gift! Happy crafting everyone!

Friday, August 22, 2014

The House

I am SUPER proud and excited to announce that The Boyfriend bought his first house this month! We are both very excited and as we further plan our future together, there will be lots of new and exciting adventures to share! Its really a great house and won't require "major" renovations right away, but there is actually lots to be done in superficial and cosmetic updates.  We are taking full advantage of its current state of emptiness to get those things done.

The Boyfriend, of course, was very excited that this new adventure will provide more than enough projects to keep the blog fully stocked for the foreseeable future. No, really, he was excited! He might try to deny it now, but he really was! :) Being the HUGE fan of projects that I am, not to mention the AMAZING girlfriend that I am (wink wink), I am really looking forward to documenting our progress and, oh yeah, making this house a home! Since we are just getting started, I figured I would start out with the nickel tour!


Its a blue house, (YAY!) on a fairly quiet street. There are lots of families and kids. The front door opens to the hallway, which leads to all of the bedrooms.



(Please ignore the torn up bottoms of the walls, we just tore out the baseboards when I took the photos)

The first room on the left, when you walk in, is a good sized bedroom with a HUGE closet! The Boyfriend has deemed this my "sewing room" (EEK!) and has given me full permission to decorate it as I see fit. I have still been asking his opinion on things though. Ha ha!






Next stop down the hall is the bathroom off to the right. Nothing too fancy and The Boyfriend definitely has some renovation ideas for the future.  There is also a good sized linen closet just outside the door.




Back into the hall, the next door on the left goes into the middle bedroom. "The office" as we are affectionately calling it now. Also a pretty good sized room with lots of potential.





The last room down the main hall is the master bedroom.  Also a pretty good sized room, its has windows and a door that lead right into the backyard, which I will come back to.





 
Back down the hall and into the main part of the house, between the front and middle bedrooms, the room veers off to the right and into the living room/dining room area.
 




The living room leads right into the open kitchen, also with windows looking out into the backyard.



A door off  the kitchen leads into the laundry room.  There are a few "down the road" potentials for this room, including eventually adding a door and moving the laundry into the attached garage and adding a small second bathroom in here. I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the potential in this house!


 
The door off the laundry room leads out into THE BACKYARD!! Awesome on so many levels, the yard is, first of all, HUGE! It has a large patio area with room for dining, a BBQ etc.  There is a fire pit! Behind that is a large grassy area including a large tree, complete with a tree house AND a tire swing! In the back corner of the yard is a fenced off garden area.
 








There are also gated off "side yards/walkways" on both sides of the house, perfect for extra storage or what not. The north side of the house, by the driveway, has plenty of space for trash cans, an access gate to the driveway as well as side door access to the attached garage.

Pretty rad huh? So far, The Boyfriend has torn off all the baseboards for replacement.  We have taken everything off the walls and are getting ready to paint the heck out of the place! (Just as soon as we decide on colors hahaha easier said than done!)  Walls are being washed, holes spackled  and the floors are being stripped in preparation for refinishing.

Down the road, there are plans for kitchen and bathroom remodels but the bones of this house are just great! We are so excited and look forward to sharing our projects and progress with you!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Peepholes SHOULD be decorated!

There area great many things we learned from the TV show FRIENDS, like what it means to be "On a break" or that Lobsters mate for life or that Adam's apples are not named after each individual man. The thing I like to take away from it (at least for the purposes of this post) is that apartment peepholes SHOULD be decorated! For those of you who do not know FRIENDS is one of my all time favorite TV shows (followed  closely by LOST and That Girl) and my sister and I watch the show over and over and quote it to each other ALL the time! When I moved into my first apartment, I decided that I needed a yellow peephole frame for the back of my door like the one Monica and Rachel have in their apartment.

I went to the Internet first, and it didn't take long to find someone who sold a replica.  I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the near $50 price tag! I decided then and there to make myself one for less that a quarter of the price. So I did, and it has happily adorned the inner face of the doors of each apartment I have lived in over the last 7 1/2 years. My sister, has been quite jealous!

 
The end of July marks my sister's birthday and she and her family had just moved into a new apartment in Arizona. I figured now was a great time to have her very own peephole frame! So off I set to see if I could duplicate my fabulous creation.
 
I headed to Michael's craft store for supplies. I grabbed a 2 pound package of an air-dry clay. This is the one I used this time.
 


The first time around I used a cellulose clay. Any air dry clay will do just fine, but after doing this one, I think I prefer the cellulose clay simply because it dries much lighter than other clays. But again any air dry clay will work just fine. I got a bottle of the perfect "Monica's peephole frame yellow" (Martha Stewart multi surface paint in Pollen with Satin finish- I am obsessed with these paints!) a package of paint brushes and I was out the door before I was tempted to spend more money on random crafty things. Haha!

My first step was to divide the clay info 4 sections. 2 long sections and 2 shorter ones. You can make this frame in any dimensions that you like to fit your needs.  My frame was about 7 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches.

Once I had more 4 sections, I googled images of the FRIENDS' yellow peephole frame, and using some clay tools that I had, (available for purchase for a few bucks at any craft supply store or you can just use toothpicks or other household items) started carving out the design of the frame.  You can add drops of water onto your clay to help smooth things out as you go.



After I was satisfied with my work and made sure that all 4 pieces fit together, (put your 2 shorter pieces as the top and bottom and your 2 longer pieces for the sides) I let it dry in the open air for a couple of days.



I then hot glued the pieces together at the joints, doing my best to smooth out  any excess glue to make it as invisible as possible.


 
Once the hot glue had dried I got to the painting. Pretty self explanatory there.
 



I hung my peephole frame using command adhesive strips, which make for a strong hold as well as easy removal for an apartment setting.  I wasn't sure which method my sister would prefer for hanging, so I simply sent it to her as-is. It turned out so great!


She just received it in the mail this week (I am WAY behind on birthdays this year ,sigh!) and she LOVED it! I have so much fun making this craft! Its fairly simple and doesn't take a whole lot of time. For the FRIENDS fan in your life, however, it is a simply AMAZING gift! Happy crafting everyone!

Friday, August 22, 2014

The House

I am SUPER proud and excited to announce that The Boyfriend bought his first house this month! We are both very excited and as we further plan our future together, there will be lots of new and exciting adventures to share! Its really a great house and won't require "major" renovations right away, but there is actually lots to be done in superficial and cosmetic updates.  We are taking full advantage of its current state of emptiness to get those things done.

The Boyfriend, of course, was very excited that this new adventure will provide more than enough projects to keep the blog fully stocked for the foreseeable future. No, really, he was excited! He might try to deny it now, but he really was! :) Being the HUGE fan of projects that I am, not to mention the AMAZING girlfriend that I am (wink wink), I am really looking forward to documenting our progress and, oh yeah, making this house a home! Since we are just getting started, I figured I would start out with the nickel tour!


Its a blue house, (YAY!) on a fairly quiet street. There are lots of families and kids. The front door opens to the hallway, which leads to all of the bedrooms.



(Please ignore the torn up bottoms of the walls, we just tore out the baseboards when I took the photos)

The first room on the left, when you walk in, is a good sized bedroom with a HUGE closet! The Boyfriend has deemed this my "sewing room" (EEK!) and has given me full permission to decorate it as I see fit. I have still been asking his opinion on things though. Ha ha!






Next stop down the hall is the bathroom off to the right. Nothing too fancy and The Boyfriend definitely has some renovation ideas for the future.  There is also a good sized linen closet just outside the door.




Back into the hall, the next door on the left goes into the middle bedroom. "The office" as we are affectionately calling it now. Also a pretty good sized room with lots of potential.





The last room down the main hall is the master bedroom.  Also a pretty good sized room, its has windows and a door that lead right into the backyard, which I will come back to.





 
Back down the hall and into the main part of the house, between the front and middle bedrooms, the room veers off to the right and into the living room/dining room area.
 




The living room leads right into the open kitchen, also with windows looking out into the backyard.



A door off  the kitchen leads into the laundry room.  There are a few "down the road" potentials for this room, including eventually adding a door and moving the laundry into the attached garage and adding a small second bathroom in here. I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the potential in this house!


 
The door off the laundry room leads out into THE BACKYARD!! Awesome on so many levels, the yard is, first of all, HUGE! It has a large patio area with room for dining, a BBQ etc.  There is a fire pit! Behind that is a large grassy area including a large tree, complete with a tree house AND a tire swing! In the back corner of the yard is a fenced off garden area.
 








There are also gated off "side yards/walkways" on both sides of the house, perfect for extra storage or what not. The north side of the house, by the driveway, has plenty of space for trash cans, an access gate to the driveway as well as side door access to the attached garage.

Pretty rad huh? So far, The Boyfriend has torn off all the baseboards for replacement.  We have taken everything off the walls and are getting ready to paint the heck out of the place! (Just as soon as we decide on colors hahaha easier said than done!)  Walls are being washed, holes spackled  and the floors are being stripped in preparation for refinishing.

Down the road, there are plans for kitchen and bathroom remodels but the bones of this house are just great! We are so excited and look forward to sharing our projects and progress with you!