Enjoying a Week Alone

Tom was on a business trip recently which gave me unlimited (almost) time to get a few projects done.

During our years of active duty, deployments were a time to get some big projects done.  By big projects I mean make a quilt or redecorate our bedroom.  And sometimes those things did happen.

Now I am older and wiser, not to mention less energetic and ambitious.

But, still, there were a few painting projects I wanted to accomplish while I had an entire week, like the inside of this cabinet.

I had refinished the server surface when I first bought it, but never got around to painting the inside.  Below, a before shot of the inside - it's just a rough plywood.

Huge improvement, right?  Priming it first really helped.

When I found this paint color for the door leading into the house from the garage, I knew it would be perfect here too.  It's Embellished Blue by Sherwin Williams and I absolutely love it.
I really want to paint my entire basement in this color.  It would lighten it up so much and give it an airy feel that is lacking now. But that is for another day.

I also painted a nightstand that was a thrift store find from a few years ago.

I sadly do not have any before pictures of the nightstand.  It was a basic brown, nothing beautiful, no antique patina believe me. 

The nightstand is in a guest room that I am working on.  It's a long term project so I am not promising updates soon.

Painting is not my favorite thing to do.  However, seeing the transformation is very inspiring.  And it really did not take that much time. Most of the time is spent waiting for the paint to dry.

Do you have any little projects hanging around?  Now is a good time before all of the fall holidays roll around.

GARAGE IS DONE

I finally have an organized garage.  I cannot tell you how excited this makes me#getalife. 

If you are a real do it yourselfer you are probably snickering at this paltry amount of tools.  But even when you have only a few tools, which are mostly not power, you want to be able to find the one you are looking for.  You even want them organized on a pretty striped pegboard.

Below see how this area used to look.

The old kitchen cabinetry was left here by the previous owners.  In fact they left quite a bit of old cabinets that I have gotten rid of over the years. 
I decided to keep this one - I like the hidden storage that the doors provide.
As always, paint gave it a new life.  And priming it first was key to making it look so much better.  I also bought new handles for an update.
There was an old laminate countertop on the cabinet.  I washed it with TSP, then primed it and painted it with glossy black paint.  I finished it with two coats of polyurethane.  We will see how long it lasts.

I purchased this galvanized organizer and tray from Birch Lane.  I think you could get a similar effect with cans with the label removed and an enamel tray.

The perfect little stool for those hard to reach tools.

But that was just one area that needed organizing and fixing up.

Below is what the other side of the garage looked like.

We started with two piles:  keep and donate.  I loaded up the van and made several trips to the thrift store.
Next I drew up a plan on scrap paper for the items that were to be stored in the garage.  My categories were:  Christmas, sports/games, coolers, beach, camping gear.  By doing this planning I was able to buy only the shelving and tubs that I needed.

Tom and I went to The Container Store and bought 3 shelving units with 4 shelves each, plus two tubs (for the camping gear and the games, sports gear).

Having everything on the shelves makes it organized and easier to clean around.

The tool area always frustrated me.  Having to paw through this pile in order to find the rake or the shovel was so annoying.

Now I can immediately find what I am looking for.  I found this Rubbermaid tool caddy on Amazon.

There is still work to be done.  Did you notice that file cabinet in the middle of the garage?  It's full of papers that my hoarder husband must read through first.  And those doors on the cabinet are hiding a few secrets.  But we are so far ahead of where I had even dared to dream.

It's the simple things.

To read about my gardening area in the garage go here.

This is not a sponsored post.  I paid full price for everything mentioned.

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