game room

A new toy for the game room

06/18/2012 5:00 am by Allison 17 Comments

Well, he finally did it. Ben finally bought a toy he’s been talking about buying for years.

Yup. A foosball table. Awesome. (Can you feel the sarcasm dripping from my voice?)

Say hello to Godfrey and Bartholomew, our Foosball forwards on Team Yellow. They even have little faces on them.

Ben has been pining away for a “professional foosball table, not a cheap crappy one” (his words, not mine) for geeze, like 10 years?

His old company had one in their break room so he got pretty good at schooling people.

So anyway, he’s been saving up any extra money he gets and has been browsing the ol’ Craigslist for a good quality used one.

A few weeks ago he found a Cyclone Foosball table for $400. Brand new these things are more than a grand. So he raced out and purchased that sucker within the hour.

I have never wanted a foosball table! They are so lame. Well, I’m eating my words because this table is so FUN! It is amazing how much more fun it is to play foosball on a pro-quality table as opposed to a $50 one from Wally World.

Our son {he’s 10} has gotten so good that he can almost beat Ben now. Even our daughter {she’s 8} has surprisingly gotten really into it (she usually doesn’t like stuff like this). Check out her game face:

She is ready for the kill! Ha!

The foosball table isn’t really doing anything for the game room though, decor-wise. Instead of fighting this huge eyesore and trying to decorate around it, I’ve just decided to embrace the concept of a real “game room” and will incorporate the table when I finally get around to decorating this room.

Ben’s thrilled with my generous open-mindedness and has now proclaimed that he will be saving up for an arcade-style Mrs Pac-Man game. I’ve created a monster. I swear, you give them an inch…

Do you like how I just decided to not clean or shove any crap out of the way for the pictures? Welcome to my real life.

We’ve already established that we’re super nerds over here (hello foosball table and DDR Pads), but what about you? On a scale from 1 to NERD, how nerdy are you?

And for all my international friends, do you have foosball or is this an American thing? I would imagine you have foosball since soccer (futball) is more famous outside the States than in, but what would I know?

And for the record, I’m changing my decorating style as of this very moment. I’m not going to sacrifice fun and living to have a home that looks like a model home. I will decorate my home with the intention of living in and enjoying the space. If that means owning a foosball table and a Mrs Pac-Man arcade game, then so be it!

And while I’m on a tangent… our living room will always have a tv. And our couch will always face the tv, not the fireplace. It’s called real life, people. This is my real life. And I love it.

Now please excuse me… I have a foosball tournament I need to finish.

Filed Under: Decorating, For kids Tagged With: game room

3 small projects equals one big post update

01/10/2012 10:26 pm by Allison 9 Comments

So, are you as sick of hearing about that damn to-do list as I am?

What on God’s Green Earth would inspire me to round up twenty-freaking-four projects and put them all in one tidy little post? And then, to add insult to injury, I gave myself a deadline of December 31st to complete the list.

Of course, you know that means there’s absolutely no way I completed that list by December 31st. But I did put a pretty good dent in it. And now I have two more projects to check off, plus a bonus project that isn’t even on the list.

Shall we get to it then? I think we shall.

First up on the never-ending list:

Project 12: Paint window moulding.

{before}

I’m happy to report that I busted out the trim paint and got busy painting all the moulding on the 4 windows in my family and breakfast rooms. And I’ve got proof, baby!

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I’ll tell you what, I loooooove hanging trim and moulding. I could do it all day. But I HATE painting it. I think painting trim and moulding is one of the worst punishments I can think of.

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Does this look smooth as butteh or what?

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And now for a little tip. A long time ago, I showed you how to hang moulding along windows and edges that are rounded. I filled the gap with joint compound and sanded the heck out of it. And it looks good. But that was way too much work. So I found an even easier way to make those rounded edges look pretty good.

Caulk.

Yup. Just fill them with loads of caulk, smooth it out with my finger, let it dry, and give everything a nice ol’ coat of paint. Saves me hours doing it this way.

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You can totally pin that picture if you want. Just sayin’.

And now for the 2nd of 3 mini projects…

Project 19: Finish painting stairwell

{before}

Can you believe we lived with stair-stepping paint for months? Can you believe I actually painted stair-stepping paint in the first place? Tack-to-the-double-eeeee. I finally coerced Ben into painting that hard-to-reach stairwell for me. He is da-bomb.

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Someday I’d LOVE to rip out that half wall and put in a wrought-iron railing. That would be delish.

Yay. I can check 2 more projects off that damn to-do list. Oh, and sit tight for an official to-do list update post. You know, once I quit avoiding it.

And now, the moment you all have been waiting for… the third and final project update. It’s such a small thing but has made such a huge difference.

Remember when I added board & batten in Kinsey’s room?

Well, I never quite got around to buying and installing new plug covers.

Why does that last 10% of a project always take the longest to finish?

If you guessed that this project is about plug covers then you win a cookie!

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Did you know that plug covers are ONLY about a quarter each? They are one of the cheapest things you can buy for your home. So next time you get paint all over one, or you ram your foot into one and crack it, just go buy a new one. They are not scary or intimidating. They are plastic and have only one screw. Replacing outlet covers is one of the easiest DIY projects.

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The board and batten project can officially be declared “complete” now.

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I thought about pulling the plug outlets out of the wall and installing them on top of the battens, but after about 2 seconds thought all I could think was, “too much work!”. So I improvised and had the battens go completely around the outlet covers, and it worked perfectly.

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I spent about $1.50 on plug and switch covers and had them screwed in and ready to go in about 1 minute. They totally finish off that board and batten.

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And for added suspense, I’ve been doing even more work in Kinsey’s room this week! I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been up to. It includes two trips to IKEA and lots of new storage. Squeal! Stay tuned for that update.

Have you been working on any little projects lately? You know, the annoying ones that take only a few minutes that you put off for months or years? What projects have you been taking care of lately?

Have a fab day!

Filed Under: DIY, Moulding Tagged With: family room, game room, Girl Room, moulding, painting the family room, stairs

THE actual real-for-real House of Hepworths (for realz)

10/25/2011 10:58 pm by Allison 27 Comments

Hey you guys! I have a little treat for you today! Well, okay, it’s probably not that cool, but it’s a treat for me at least!

I have wanted a floor plan of my house for a year now. I’ve scoured the internet looking for it and it’s nowhere to be found! I tried to draw one using one of those free floor plan services. Ha! It looked worse than a kindergartner’s drawings.

Well, I mentioned to one of my friends down the street that I wanted a floor plan (this house was built almost 6 years ago) and to my complete shock and elation she whipped out a floor plan for me! Turns out she and her husband almost bought this exact house from the builder, but they bought one down the street instead. I’m so glad she saved it!

So, finally! I can now share the floor plan of this house with you. Maybe now when I show you guys rooms you won’t be so confused trying to figure out where they are located.

Here is the official Hepworth House floor plan. Is it anything like you imagined my house would be?!

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Do you like looking at floor plans and home layouts as much as I do? I will go to builder sites just to look at floor plan configurations… for fun. I know, I must have a screw loose to find that entertaining. But, seriously. I LOVE it. I even draw out plans when I’m bored… you know, for fun.

Here’s a more zoomed in version of the first floor…

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And one of the second floor…

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And because I obviously have way too much time on my hands, I even made one with the 2nd floor stacked on top of the 1st so you can get an idea of how it all fits together. Screw loose I’m telling ya.

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Are those just some of the most wicked photoshop (gimp actually) skillz you’ve ever seen? I know, I know. I really impress even myself sometimes. (I’m kidding. Look at how awful my lines are!)

I seriously won’t torture you by going through every single room and bathroom in the house, but I do want to highlight some of the rooms I’ve blathered on and on about for a year now.

So {obviously} I just HAVE to start with my most favorite room so far (even though it’s still a work in progress)…

You know this room? The one that where Barney was tragically murdered and I had to clean it up?

Ya, that room. The Barney Room (will it ever outlive that terrible nick-name?) is located here:

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Curious about my piano room?

Yup. It’s right across from the dining room. Did you know that?

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Our office is actually Bedroom 5. But I think we are about to move it to bedroom 4 upstairs. Maybe. We’ll see. It will involve a LOT of trips up and down stairs so I’m kinda avoiding it.

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Our family room is right smack in the middle of everything. It’s definitely the heart of our home and the hardest working room without a doubt.

(the white sofa table project can be found here)

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And another view of the family room facing the breakfast room and kitchen.

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Remember that part where I said I wasn’t going to do a play-by-play of the entire house?! I think I lied. Because it sure seems like I am, hua?! Okay, I’ll stop soon, I promise.

Shall we walk upstairs? Okay, come on, let’s go!

Bedroom 4 is the guest room, Bedroom 3 is our daughter’s room, and bedroom 2 is our son’s room. Got it? Good!

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And last but not least, the game room is smack dab in the middle of the upstairs. In fact, it’s directly over the family room and is the exact same shape and size. So basically we have two family rooms.

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I’d show you pictures of the three bedrooms upstairs but then I’d have to kill you.

The guest room is literally SMURF BLUE. I wish I were kidding. If we do the big ol’ office switcharoo then I’ll be painting the blue asap and you will for sure get a good ol’ look at it. Poor Kinsey still lives in a football field. I will be painting her room within the next month, promise. Travis lucked out and has builder beige walls.

If you’d like to see every room in the house, you can read about all the progress we’ve made on the house after a year of living here.

I’m so giddy that I finally have these floor plans! I made up one per room so whenever I’m talking about a room in the future now I can be sure to show you exactly where it’s located. Maybe it’s overkill, but I seriously love floor plans, so I figured you might enjoy looking at it as well. If not, then just let your eyes glaze over them whenever you see one.

Also, I’ve had a TON of new traffic lately, so if you are new here, Welcome to House of Hepworths, where all your wildest dreams come true!

Make sure to stop by each Wednesday evening/Thursday Morning to link up your posts to my Weekly Link Party. It’s THE PLACE to be, so don’t miss out on the fun!

If you got this far, thanks for toughing it out. Now go enter the Silhouette Cameo giveaway if you haven’t already!

And if I may, I’d like to leave you with an inspirational poster: