Welcome!

I'm Tonia and this is my family. There's Hubs, my wonderful partner; Bug, my darling daughter; and Boo, my charming son. We are the Collins clan. We are a homeschooling family who try our best to live out God's will for our lives every day. There are lots of stumbles along the way, but we love each other and this little life we're carving out for ourselves. Recently we found ourselves called to make some big changes in our lives so we're packing up the McMansion and moving out to a little farm in need of a lot of TLC. We have tons to learn and tons to do and we invite you to share the journey as we turn our not-so-new heap into a home.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Kids' Room Revealed

It's done!


This has become.......


lovely.

 
Beautiful gray walls, amazing wide trim, old floors redone.........
 


A space for each kid to call their own.......


And a special area for the growing girl......


And that's that. Short and sweet, because, frankly, getting this room done wore me out. I'm too tired to even plan the next room and that my friends, is very, very tired.


Tonia


 

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Kids' Room- MORE sneak peeks

We are getting so close! I'm trying not to get to impatient, but seriously! I just want this room done!

The painting has started in the room. Everything has a coat of bonding primer on it (or two in the case of doors and trim) and it's finally time to start painting the colors....creamy white for the trim and gray for the walls. I expect that it will take me the rest of this week to get it done. Homeschooling, AHG, and church events come first so I have to paint when I have time, which is hard to come by sometimes.

I started the painting work with the freebies and  thrift store finds I had gathered so they are all ready to go into the room. Forgive the lack of "before" pictures- my camera battery was dead and I didn't want to wait to get started on things so all you get is "after" pictures.



We picked up the  table and chairs one day while we were out and about. Someone had thrown them into their yard with a "Free" sign on them. The table was a circle table with the expandable track to hold a leaf so it was easy for Hubs to split it in half for me. I spray painted it yellow and then covered the top of the table with the same fabric I used to make the headboards. This was accomplished by using spray adhesive to attach the fabric and then covering the fabric with several layers of polyurethane. I think it looks great and I love it, but the top of the table is not smooth like I would've hoped. I've since learned that you should coat a table like this with resin so when I make my side of the table that's what I will do. The chair got several coats of spray paint too. Everything was then coated with a clear top coat. The table will be mounted onto a board attached to the wall so that it is secure and then it will become Bug's make-up and/or sewing table. She is delighted, which means I am too.


The nightstand came from a thrift store where I found it for $10. It was a typical wooden nightstand so I gave it a couple of coats of the same color that will go on the walls after I spray painted the bottom opening. It then got a coat of clear top coat. This piece will go by the table and hold Bug's hair and make-up things. This is her favorite piece for the room so far. I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of it.


This is the inspiration piece for my next project. I saw it when I was browsing in Gordman's one day. Even in a "discount" store, this piece was $40! I thought it was very cute, but I was pretty sure I could make one myself for a lot less.


So, I dug through the huge pile of pallets that the Hubs had brought home for me until I found the perfect one. You can see how it has the ideal place already there for me to cut it into pieces. I cut through the bottom pieces to separate the two ends (which I'll use for shelves somewhere else) and then I cut the remaining middle piece in half.



And ended up with these two pieces. I had to add a piece of wood to the end so it would have support, but that's it.



I then took each section and painted it the gray color I'm using for the walls. Next up was a coat of the creamy white I'm using for the trim. After that, I gave the pieces a light sanding so that the gray color would show through some and it would look aged.


For the different sections I had the Hubs cut out pieces of scrap wood in the appropriate dimensions and then I spray painted them according to the colors each kid wanted for their board. To one piece I attached a paper clip, to another piece I attached a clear picture frame, and to the last piece I attached a cork board.

My piece cost about $8 total to make and I think they will look great above the kids' beds. I am still debating about putting their names on the blank spot on the board- I hate to try to do that and ruin my work, but they do sorta look like they need something still, don't they?

Another huge milestone was hit today....I got the kids' clothes put into their closet. This got rid of three giant totes in the communal bedroom. I am seriously giddy.


 
Unfortunately, it also forced me to see  that despite our purging we still have too much stuff. Looks like I'll be getting stuff ready for a consignment sale very soon. But at least it's off of the floor and out of bins. Oooh! Soon the Hubs and I will have our own room again! {Swoon}


Tonia