Hello everyone, I’m excited to announce we’ve completed another space remodel as part of our Alma Project!  I hinted a few months ago that we’ve adopted a second house in partnership with our local COTS (Committee on the Shelterless) and a team of volunteers has been working on this home to prepare it for the families that will be moving in shortly. 

This home serves the purpose of helping families that are in immediate danger of separation because the parents don’t have a place to live, often they’re sleeping in cars.  This house helps keep homeless families intact so that CPS does not separate the children from the parents.  It’s a place for families to reside temporarily while our local COTS helps them obtain more permanent housing.  We couldn’t be prouder of this hall bathroom remodel!

This could not have happened without the support of some very generous sponsors and a team of volunteers.  Just like with the kitchen remodel earlier this year, Home Depot was a very generous donor, supplying us with the new vanity, toilet and faucet, and we are extremely grateful for their support!  Glidden provided the paint, and with some money raised from our Alma Project fund, we were able to add the extras.  

When we started, this shared community bathroom was a complete disaster, and in desperate need of upgrades.  Here’s a peek at the space two months ago before the remodel began.   The tub and flooring were dingy, discolored, and in very sad shape.   The vanity and toilet were really bad too, so we removed everything in the space except the tub and started over. 

Here’s how it looks two months later!

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We’ve had this computer armoire for over ten years, we bought it when we were first married and it used to sit in the corner of our family room and hold our huge 300 CD stereo equipment and speakers, remember those days before the iPod?

A few years ago we got rid of the stereo equipment we weren’t using and started to use the armoire for its intended purpose – as a computer station.  It’s a fantastic piece I scored on sale at Macy’s furniture store years ago, but sitting in front of it felt like staring into a cave, it was dull, dark, and unorganized.

This year, I’m determined to be as organized as possible when it comes to all the activities, from school to extracurricular sports and lessons.  I thought it best to keep it all housed in one place, so the computer armoire has now become family organization central.

Goodbye dark and dreary interior.

Helloooo cheerful bright blue!

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It’s a habit that can never be broken, and that is my constant need to visit to thrift stores in search of cool pieces.  Four out of five times I walk away empty handed after seeing a lot of junk, but last week was a gold mine at my local St. Vincent de Paul.  On the floor were no less than five pieces I would have loved to buy, including a beautiful French buffet plus a few fab armoires.  At one point, I heard two college girls discussing a six drawer dresser and they said “We can prime and paint this, I saw it on a blog” which made me feel proud of us DIY bloggers!  I departed with my favorite find, a fab little mid century style chest, and since it was 50% off day, it cost me $20 bucks.

I thought this little chest of drawers would be absolute perfection for my hub’s office – for storing extra office supplies.  Matt has his own small real estate office and all of the furniture is dark wood, but he’s a dude and he likes it that way so I don’t mess with that preference.  But I couldn’t pass up this perfectly sized piece that screamed “make me wonderful” so I brought it home and gave it a facelift.

He used to give me the hand pinching the top of the nose plus creased forehead combo when I brought beat up stuff home years ago – but no more.  I snuck this revamped piece into his office while he was out on an inspection and then got an email three hours later when he returned that read “LOVE it.”   Mission totally accomplished.

I’m a big big fan of the wood + white combo (hello, these tables and these shelves) so again I’m up to my old tricks.  I was inspired by this mod Austin Dresser by DucDuc and all the wood/white combinations – check out the reverse too!  The real wood drawers on this particular piece were just too amazing to cover up, but the laminate faux wood grain top?  Um, no.  Goodbye and good riddance.

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Progress continues on the playroom to study transformation – I’m trying to get it all done before the kids go back to school in late August.  One of the major changes I wanted to make was to have a wall of shelving that would contain books, art supplies, games, and a modern TV for the kids to view videos on occasion.

You may recall the laminate entertainment center that used to sit in the space – a fabulous piece but always a little bulky.  It jutted out into the room, but that was necessary to hold my old college television and my kids would watch their VHS movies on it.  We decided to donate that piece of furniture to the Alma Project family room so I went in search of some new shelving for this space.

I wanted to something streamlined, modern, narrow, but wide too and I most definitely did not want to spend a fortune.  Enter the IKEA VITTSJÖ shelving unit, $70 bucks each!  It comes in black metal with glass shelves, but I wanted to transform it to suit our home, so I painted it white and substituted dark wood shelves for glass – here it is.

The unit when assembled looks like this.

But I thought white with wood shelving would be better fit for our home. These transformed inexpensive shelves are now perfect for this space !

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