TV Console Update

Hello lovelies :)

Tonight I am sharing the simplest DIY that only cost a few bucks, but made a world of difference. 

As some of you may remember from our family room makeover we converted a used and ugly dresser into our TV console. Don't remember? Here it is in all its storage-wielding beauty:

{you can see the whole transformation here}

It has been in full action now for about 9 months, and I would tell anyone even considering a new TV console to not just walk, but to run and find a dresser to use as one. It has been working out beautifully for us! The storage it gives just can't be found anywhere else. 

But, I have to admit there are....downsides to finding an old beauty and fixing her up. Um, like this:

Yeah, that would be what I like to call our dark, little secret - the inside of the drawers were pretty gross. 

Nothing some cleaning and contact paper couldn't fix ;)

At the same time that I picked up the contact paper I used in our kitchen organization project, I grabbed some gray and white chevron contact paper as well. I honestly didn't have a plan for it when I bought it, but once I started working on the family room as part of my one room at a time series I knew exactly where to use it. 

A ton better, right?!

 After covering each drawer, I went through each and organized and purged. The center drawers all hold the electronics:

Wii games and remotes are organized in dividers:

The bottom has their tablets and games {just to prove how much more work I still have to go in organizing out house, I could only find four of the games that go with these consoles!}:

The larger, side drawers hold all our games and activities. We actually still have two drawers empty which is one of the reasons I know this system will work - we have room to grow ;)

Ready to see some ugly again?

Happy Monday {night}!

xo,

Rachel

Kid's Bookcase DIY Makeover

Hi guys!

I am excited to share with you one of the first projects we conquered in our Family Room. 

Here is a little secret about our house: it's full with needs-to-be-done projects. As in ugly stuff everywhere that is looking for some love ;) 

This bookcase I bought a few months back was no exception. 

I picked it up at Goodwill for a few bucks because I couldn't help but think how great it could look...with a complete redo, ha!

Aside from the primary colors that totally don't go with anything in our house, it was covered in cheap fabric that was just inviting a rip to happen:

First thing I did was take it apart and prime and paint it. {sorry- I totally forgot to take pictures of this part!} To keep it looking light and airy we choose a soft white, {Dove White by Glidden} in high gloss.  Since we were taking it from a dark red, it took three coats of primer and two of paint. 

Next up was recovering the fabric pouches. Originally I thought about just making a new one, but I thought that if I just sewed new fabric to the existing one that it would be easier to get the lines right and it would be sturdier. 

All in all I used a little less than 2yds of fabric. I cut it to width and pinned it around the edges, making sure to  mark where the poles went through so I didn't sew them shut. Pinning was tedious, but easy.

The fabric was a find at Ikea for only $4.99 a yard. After the pinning I sewed the edges and across the width  under each pole insert:

Wanna see how this baby looks now?

I am over the moon with how it turned out! It is {finally!} no longer an eyesore. We are using it to store some books and some of the kid's magazines as well. They have a lot of subscriptions, but we never had a good place to put them. 

And since everyone loves a good before and after:

Happy Friday!  

xo,

Rachel

Linking Up....

One Room at a Time :: Family Room Plans

Now that we finally have our kitchen under control, I have been redirecting my attention to the Family Room. 

You may remember our complete redo of the space here. I left you with it looking like this:

The built in desks have been working better than I could have imagined, with the kids pumping out art work like it's their job:

The only problem? Their desks tend to look like this more often than not:

{and I'm not even showing you the really bad stuff!}

The main thing I want to address in this room is really organizing their art supplies and desktops. Now that we have had this layout for a few months I have really been able to see what is working and what is not. 

The next thing I had planned on changing was the gallery wall. Although I loved it in theory, having it up with all the other elements in the room always seemed too busy to me. 

Then something happened. In a recent complete-house rearranging marathon (what? you don't move stuff around constantly?!), we switched the sofa from our living room and placed it in the family room. The space now currently looks like this:

I don't know if it's the gray of the sofa, or the fact that there aren't as many pillows being seen, but I sorta fell back in love with the gallery wall! I do, however, want to switch out some of the art (maybe even add more??).

Other projects I have on the brain for this room:

curtains for the smaller window 

redo a book rack I found at goodwill

update the magnetic wall where their artwork goes

do something to fill up the empty space above the shelves 

recover the bean bags (this one really scares me & I'm not sure if it's really in my sewing capabilities!)

Figure out a solution to the jacket/shoe issue we have at the back door

Honestly, all the projects I have planned should be pretty simple - it's mostly organizing one of the most used rooms in our house. 

I am excited to take over this project a little differently than I have in the past - by sharing with you what I do as I do them, one project at a time. I think a lot of times I get caught up with the big "reveal" that I leave out a lot of the smaller details that go into making it happen because I think that no one would want to read about them. But you know what? Some of the blog posts that I enjoy reading the most are just that - the little things. 

Thanks for reading :)

xo,

Rachel

Happy Monday & a Feature

Hi! How was your weekend? Ours was basically spent rearranging our entire house, because that's what normal people do, right?! I have been so busy figuring out the details to our little princess's party, that it didn't really dawn on me that we just invited 20 people into our house....looking like this...eek!

Project One Room @ a Time is in full swing, and I can't wait to share with you tomorrow my favorite project that we did in this space! Aside from a few small details, I would say the kitchen is done and the family room is well under way. I showed off a sneak peek on my Instagram {@nestling_designs} this week:

This is actually great timing, since this space was just featured on Inspire Me Heather in a great roundup of family rooms. This room is pretty special to me, so it was an honor to be up there with some other amazing spaces! You can go check out the entire post here.

Happy Monday!

xo,

Rachel

Family Room Reveal

Happy Monday :)

 

I am excited to finally show off our {basically} finished family room. I may or may not have a few more small projects up my sleeve for it ;)

 

 

 

The main purpose that I really wanted this room to have was designated spots for the kids to do their homework and art.

 

The boys share the larger desk area.

 

The kid's desks are marked with their first initial. And each desk has a magnetic chalkboard that we made ourselves:

 

I found a flea market basket at The Land of Nod that I absolutely fell in love with and knew I had to have. Since the boys are sharing their space, I thought one larger thing to share their art supplies might be nice. Clean up is easy, since they just have to throw it back in a basket. It's easy to move as well if we decide to craft it up in another room :)

 

I had Jason attach clips that hold that day's homework. When the kids unload their backpacks after school, I immediatly place their homework in them. After dinner, when it's time to do our homework, the kids can just sit down and get started on their own.

 

Awesome lights were a find at Ikea. I love how they attach to the wall to save on desk space.

 

A set of drawers from the Container Store were the perfect solution to store drawing paper and construction paper so that it was always on hand. The penguin is an adorable pencil sharpener from Grama :)

 

I used a mix of new magazine holders and recovered older ones.

 

Cayden is the lucky one with her own side:

 

 

Our Elfa system got a bit of an upgrade with these DIY animal chalkboard labels.

 

 

Cayden's art supply holder is also from the Land of Nod.

 

The pillows are a mix of store bought (the orange one was a deal at Target), and others were recovered using fabric I purchased from an online fabric store.

 

You many remember my post about planning our eclectic gallery wall:

 

The rug that started the whole concept:

 

{Seriously love this rug!}

 

See how I made the alphabet art HERE.

 

The fabric covered pinboards were one of my favorite things in the room. The dresser turned TV console might be a close second, though :)

 

We have already gotten a ton of use out of this space already :)

 

 

 

 

 

xo,

Rachel