Posts Tagged ‘game room

The gallery wall in the stairwell is outta here!

{15 months ago…}

I tried. I really tried. But this gallery wall has been a thorn in my side since day one. It makes me cray-to-the-zeeee!

I thought the issue was the wall color. So I painted the stairwell yellow to match my foyer (I also painted under the railing white).

The frames also ended up with a nice coat of white spray paint.

Still hated it. So I took all the little kitchy crap and shelves down. Maybe it will look better with just frames.

Even worse.

Then one day… I was just over it.

Totally over it.

This sofa table was moved to Kinsey’s room last week, leaving an empty spot at the top of my staircase.

See? No more table.

When I “borrowed” the table for Kinsey’s room, I didn’t really have a plan for replacing the table with something else in this now empty spot.

But two days ago, I’d looked at that eyesore of a stairwell gallery wall one. too. many. times.

And something just snapped inside me. Before I knew it, frames were a-flyin’ and I was a-huffin’ and a-hollerin’ and a-hammerin’.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Orange Mocha Frappuccino! Er, I mean…

HALLWAY GALLERY WALL! Woop woop.

I gathered up all my supplies; frames, nails, hammer, level, chair to stand on, and I just started hammering and hanging frames.

Some people pre-measure and cut out newspaper the size of the frames and tape it to the wall.

Oh please, girl! Do you even know how fantastically lazy I am? I mean really? That would take way too long.

Plus, who cares if I screw up. It’s only a teeny tiny little nail hole. It’s not like the house is going to fall down around me.

Basically, the method to my madness consists of grabbing a frame, holding it up to the wall and eyeballing it, and then hanging that sucker up.

This honey badger don’t care! She just does what she wants.

And if it looks like gar-to-the-capital-bidge? Take it down, pull the nail out, and hang it somewhere else. Trial and error baby. Trial and error.

Finally, after a heart thumping 45 minutes, I was done.

Kinda.

I ran out of white frames.

So I started grabbing other frames to fill the gaps. Don’t worry chicklets. They will get painted white in due time. Like, either tomorrow, or whenever I decide to get back on board with this project and finish it.

Could be a day. Could be a month. You really never know when you are dealing with me.

But for now, this is the final result.

I freaking love it and think it’s so fantastic. I grin every time I walk by.

You are probably saying “oh no, girl. No no no. That does not look very good.”

Of course you are saying that! The ugly frames haven’t been painted yet. But trust me, just picture everything white. It will look fab.

And sorry the picture itself sucks so bad. I had a nice camera a year ago. And then I dropped it on the ground like 25 times. And now my photos look like that. Sorry.

Ben says when he can trust me with a camera he might consider talking about getting me a new one. I don’t blame him. I break every camera I own within a few months. Weeks. Days.

Once, when I was in middle school, my parents bought me a camera for my birthday. I was like 13 I guess.

In fact, here’s a picture of my sisters and I on my new gallery wall. Can you guess which one is me?

I’ll give you a hint. Back Right. Oh, sorry, that wasn’t a hint. O-well. And Merideth, please don’t kill me for posting this photo of you. Just tell people it was your “awkward phase”… In fact, I’m pretty sure it was everyone’s awkward phase judging by the photo from 1993.

Anyway, I just got a new camera for my 13th birthday.

I was tearing open the package to retrieve my very first, brand spankin’ new camera that was mine. All mine.

My dad says while I’m opening the brand new camera, and I quote, “Allison, be careful. Don’t drop it on the grou…”

Doh!

The camera slipped out of my hand and smashed on the tile floor.

The rest is history. Me and cameras are mortal enemies.

I’m that way with vacuums too. Don’t bring up “oreck” and “Allison” to my mom. I’m pretty sure she had to purchase at least 4 of them before I moved out.

Where was I?

Oh, gallery wall… Here’s a view from the game room.

For those of you that are so nosy you are squinting at your monitor trying to get a good looksie at my family, I’ll make it easy for you…

This is Travis 3 years ago:

Adorable? I think so. Drives me bonkers? You betcha.

And this is Kinsey (again, 3 years ago):

Prettiest and most ornery 4 year old I ever did meet.

Us goofing around:

Ben and his brothers like 10 years ago, maybe more:

(Ben is in the middle)

Can we all get a collective “awwwww”?

I won’t bore you with every picture on my wall. I’ll save that for when I am totally done, the frames are all painted, and new pictures are inserted. That’s when I’ll bore you to tears.

Wondering about that big ol’ empty stairwell now?

I have some BIG plans swirling around in my mind for the stairwell. You will just have to wait and see what concoction I’ve got up my sleeve for that one.

For now, I’ll leave you with my purposely-asymmetrical gallery wall. I like everything to match, but I get bored with too much symmetry.

I’ve determined people either LOVE gallery walls, or LOATHE them.

What team are you on? Team LOVE or Team LOATHE?

Do tell!

Have a great weekend!

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!

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.

Does this look smooth as butteh or what?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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?!

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…

And one of the second floor…

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.

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:

Curious about my piano room?

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

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.

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)

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

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!

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.

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:

Bawahahaha. I kill myself sometimes, I swear.

ciao!