Playroom mini Makeover

There are a little of here and there changes that happened last year in the kids’ playroom a.k.a. the family room. 

I first removed all the frames and stuff on the wall and requested a bookshelf.

First Attempt at Wainscoting

查理斯逮到了一個機會試試他的新工具和手藝 -- wainscoting 裝飾牆

由於這不是我們家, 我並沒有參與到任何程序或意見, 完全出自查理斯說服屋主採用的想法和他的純手工, 當然第一次的嘗試很難達到百分百完美, 但是屋主很滿意, 查理斯的木工手藝又更上一層樓!

Little Kitchen in a Bookcase

Ta-da~ Ikea NYBAKAD 迷你廚房恰恰好地塞入 playroom 的書櫃下!

Play Kitchen Inspiration

還沒有孩子前我就開始收集一些可以用來 DIY 小人物廚房 (play kitchen) 的材料, 比如說要淘汰的床頭櫃啦, 翻修浴室後要淘汰的水龍頭開關啦, 等等...想說只要花查理斯的人工就可以有一個家裡的小人物廚房; 然後在 pinterest 上找了一堆的小人物廚房參考, 整理如下:

以下是出廠的成品, 我特地一個個網上查價, 價格都得百元美金上下:

Source/ Brio Stove

Source/ Ikea DUKTIG Play Kitchen

Fight Against Coldness

Charles has been working on warming up our home over the years. He tries REALLY hard, seriously. It becomes like a routine must-to-do every winter. I have mix feelings about this. I am glad that he puts so much effort into our home but at the same time he spent so much time in the yard and every time he wrapped the project up around the time when the winter was almost over. Skipping through numerous knocking down the plaster and insulating the house, here are a few exceptional examples of fight against coldness:

Make It Better

Finally, here comes the home improvement post! Remember I turned an Ikea bench-with-shoe-storage into little en’s play table? And I mentioned that I wanted it to be a little wider so that it could be more functional as a play table? Charles really spent time to make it better. He not only extended the width but also attached a splash board!

Children Magnetic Board

A few weeks ago, we found a cart of “treasure” at Ikea AS-IS area:

A New Table for Little en

最近看著恩仔坐在地上玩, 時不時會把他的車車開到沙發或是爸媽的工作椅上, 經過外婆提醒, 應該是要給他一張桌子的時候了

在不打算花一毛錢的情況下, 突發奇想跑到車庫裡, 把過去單身買得 IKEA 家具挖出來, 稍微改裝一下, 就成了恩仔的 play table! 自覺很天才, 居然把 TJUSIG系列的鞋架搖身一變成了一張兒童桌!

Where Did the Remote Go

Something non-toyish are always kid’s favorite. I bet they love their home remote control much more than their toys… Charles decided to have a designated place for the remote and here’s where he found, not so much practical because I’m usually too lazy to get up and walk to that TV shelf. Anyhow, it is a guaranteed out-of-reach place from children though.

I was a little embarrassed with posting this teeny tiny project of Charles’. But then, I found that people actually sell this kind of product online. Some of them are even at a very ridiculous price like $107 on Amazon!!

First cut, sanded, and sprayed paint a piece of wood about two feet long.

Measured the length between the original TV brackets and used that measurement to install two additional brackets on that piece of wood.

Screwed them together…

There you go! Total cost for this project: $4.00 for two pieces of metal.

I know, my Lego modulars block most of the TV… I moved them here temporarily because Charles was upgrading the mantel at the same time...

Mr. Fix-It

After the big renovation for our bathroom, Charles can finally get back to his small project list. Small Project No.1: the handle bars for the pocket doors:

Our pocket doors had been like this since we were “mostly” done with the living room. (Wow, that was back in February, 2013!)

Gray for Grand Playroom

今年感恩節終於把延宕已久的 family room 完成油漆, 同時也改飾成小恩仔的 playroom:

選用淡淡的海豚灰, 連同擱置在一旁的書架背後的牆都漆上; 比較麻煩的部分還是 sanding, 此間沒有大動作的把牆壁拆下來填玻璃棉, 原本 plaster 牆壁上一粒粒的凹凸不平還是得磨一磨才漆得漂亮, 只是這一磨還是要不少功夫, 為了避免灰塵到處飛揚, 特地用塑膠布比照當時動工 Home Theater 的方式給隔起來

因為年初動工浴室而擱在一邊施工中的書架其實都陸續有小小進展, 再從 IKEA 多買了幾層 IVAR shelves, 查理斯把他珍藏的 fantasy collection 從閣樓搬下來填在書架中...

兩個一長一短 Ikea RIBBA picture ledge; 為了 paper anniversary 買的世界地圖終於有個適合的地方, 走過的地方也多了不少 :)

Let the Air Flow

thechusweethome 是東西巷的房子, 窗戶雖多可是不怎麼通風, 不知為何在興建的時候許多大窗都是開不了的窗; 不通風的情況在屋子正中間的 family room 尤其嚴重; 另外, 前屋主把這個空間設為 formal dining room, 裝了一個吊燈, 之前在吊燈下擺了一張咖啡桌, 並沒有什麼影響, 現在我們把咖啡桌移走改為孩子的 playroom, 每次走過都要小心不要被撞到: 

於是乾脆把燈給拆了, 換上一個 ceiling fan: Hampton Bay Flowe 52” Brushed Nickel Ceiling Fan @ HomeDepot 

通風的問題改善了, 小恩仔也多了一個 mobile 讓他看個過癮 XD

We Bought A Gun

A paint spray gun, Wagner Flexio 590 HVLP Paint Sprayer Kit

It makes painting so much easier. Four pieces of plywood? done within 2 minutes. More importantly, it doesn't give you the brush marks!

Hold steady and go.

The first try out would be our current ongoing project: built-in bookshelves. They are second hand Ikea IVAR pieces that I bought from a co-worker years ago. Never thought they could be used as built-in furniture.

We thought about HEMNES or BILLY bookcase but the adds up cost just hardly seems to worth it.

We'll see how IVAR goes.

Speaking of Ikea, 2014 Catalog is released!!! Take a sneak peak here.

Moving On

Finally, I can STOP talking about the living room/home theater progress and move on to a new space - Family Room. This space was originally designed to be a dining room. Given two people in the house, it’s kind of a waste to have a big fancy formal dining room that we barely use, so we (temporarily) transformed it into a family room.

We purchased this new 7’6” x 9’6” area rug on RugUsa.com 4th of July sales, 75% off plus free shipping, chopping off from $593.25 to $197.75, which I believed it was a pretty good deal. The rug was bought for our new living room/home theater but we love that open hardwood feeling in the home theater so we moved it to family room to give it a try.

I gave the room a little decoration: Ikea LANTLIV plant stand, for some books, magazines and a vase with flower that I DIY a long time ago. Maybe some frames on the wall later.

This is by far the least work effort to transform a room but Charles won’t let it be so easy.

Next project:

We had something in mind a few months ago already and finally get it started!

Photographed by TheLetteredCottage

Source: designsponge

Stick a Fork in the Floor

IT’S ALL DONE! Three days of work and here’s our shining glossy hardwood floor!

We emptied the rooms where the floors are made of hardwood: Living room/ Family room/ Hallway/ Guest bedroom; Such a rare opportunity to see thechusweethome all empty:

Imaginary Cozy Rooms

清空了的 Living room/Home Theater 讓我興致勃勃地想像了主客廳的傢具規畫:

使用已有的 Ikea MICKE desks, 搭配 Ikea BESTA storage units 希望可以實現想像中的 Home Office in Living Room

大窗下的 built-in bench 似乎也可以使用 Ikea BESTA 來完成:

當真是太陽底下無新鮮事, 才有的想法原來早已有熱愛居家 DIY 的部落客給實現了, 不過用的是 Ikea AKURUM:

Centsational Girl: We Have a Window Seat

上個週末為了地板打磨的緣故搬清了 Family Room 中所有的傢具, 於是腦中又浮現一片愜意小窩:

使用已有的沙發排排看; 本來一直很希望能擁有一個 L shape sectional, 基於節流以及原有的沙發還處於良好的狀態下而作罷, 暫時將一個三人座沙發和一個雙人沙發牽強地拼湊出sectional 的感覺...

搬空了的地板房間星期一開始打磨上色了! 紅牆白椅深咖啡地板, 期待中的模樣...

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