Laundry Room Reno - Converting BiFold Doors

Thursday, July 18, 2014

I've been very MIA lately.  There are so many things to do over the summer with the kids and around the house!

One of our major "minor" projects is to renovate the laundry room/wine room this summer.

With the help of a local contractor I am in the process of doing this right now.  I'll try and post some pics when its done...

One of the things that I was really looking forward to was converting my downstairs closet (just outside the laundry room) into a pantry (hubby's idea).

This closet has a traditional bifold door on it and I saw this post HERE where these doors can be converted into french doors.

My problem was that my doors are not mounted on a flush wall there is actually a lip and I would have to add some 1x1 to attach hinges to it.

I was going to do just that but then I figured out that I could just keep the stationary hardware of my bifold door (the part that doesn't move) and just add additional stationary hardware to the other side (the part that normally moves).  Of course, I had to take the doors off and remove the middle hinges first!

I went to Home Depot and this is all I had to buy to make this work:

 Top Pivot pin (you may already have this on your door)

 Bottom stationary bracket and pivot pin (my doors already had predrilled holes in the bottom!)

 Top stationary bracket

I'm happy to say that it's worked perfectly and is much easier that trying to install traditional hinges on both sides of the door.

Master Bath "Freshen" Up

February 3, 2014

A while back I refinished our master bathroom vanity from a boring builders honey oak to a dark brown Kona colour using a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit from Home Dept.  I got the idea from Pinterest.  There are tons of samples on there.

Here are some before and after photos of my bathroom vanity...

(this is actually my kitchen cabinets but the bathroom vanity was exactly the same finish)

I added the brushed brass hardware from Ikea.

Here's a side view.  Can you see how the grain still shows?

Last week I decided to continue with my bathroom refresh by adding some accent tiles and changing the vanity faucet.

I replaced our old Delta "crystal ball" tap set with this Venetian Bronze set.  Ok I didn't do this, I hired a plumber to take out the old water lines and install this one for me...

The paint above my shower tile was always peeling from the moisture so last fall I had a ceiling exhaust fan put in (can you believe there wasn't one before?).
I sanded down the peeling paint and added I a complementary mosaic glass tile to fill in the gap.
This tile was only $5 sq/ft from Home Depot and I only needed 10.
Yes I actually did do the tiling here!  Years ago I took a night school class at a local high school on how to properly cut and install tiles.  This was my second tiling project - spaced 10 years apart - but I think it turned out pretty well.

I had a hard time choosing grout (I hate choosing grout!) but in the end I choose Tobacco over my other choice of Charcoal.

The Mosaic brown glass tile and Tobacco grout go well with the other FOUR different tiles in this master bathroom!

Now I just need to find replacements for the shower and bath tub taps...

Marie Update

Saturday, January 25 2014

Thanks for all the positive comments about my purging.

I know you must be getting bored of it - I am - but I promise you that it is coming to an end and that I will start to create stuff again and post on here (or on my crochet blog).

I am motivated to clear up some space in my craft room/office so that I can actually work in there.

Over the years I've accumulated a lot of tools and supplies for the various crafts/hobbies I've gotten into.

For a while now my room has looked like a dumping ground for unwanted craft stuff.  I'm trying to change that so that I can work comfortably & creatively in there.

It may seem like it, but I am NOT getting rid of everything.

I've been "collecting" rubber stamps and papercrafting supplies for over 10 years now and my interests and tastes have changed.

I'm still crazy for paper and my COPICs and hope to share some new stuff with you all soon.

Thanks to everyone who has picked up craft stuff from me through Freecycle and at the ScrapArts store!

 

Faux Birch Candles

Tuesday, December 24th (yikes!)

I was going to call this post "Buy it when you see it!" but decided to call it Faux Birch Candles instead.

Here's what happened....

I saw some birch posts at Thrifty's weeks ago - I think they were like $10 maybe less for a bunch - and I didn't buy them because I didn't want to put them in my front planters like this...

Pinterest

 Pinterest

But I should have bought them and made them into votive holders to give as gifts like this...

Pinterest

I saw some awesome birch pillars at Home Sense for $12.99 each a week ago but didn't buy them because I had no where to put them.

They looked something like this...

Now fast forward a week and try to follow along....

I moved my living room furniture around to accommodate the Christmas tree and ended up with a narrow sofa table with nowhere to go.

So I moved that in to my family room.

To accommodate the seasonal garland on the fireplace mantle in the family room, I moved a pair of hurricane lamps on to the newly located narrow sofa table - from living room.

But the old green candles in the hurricane lamps had seen better days and my DH complained about how shabby they looked.

Look

On the high fireplace mantle they were ok but now they are lower and more visible.

So off I went last night - yes on December 23rd I'm still shopping - to try and find something suitable.

I cruised the aisles of all the stores that are now open until 11 pm to see if I could find something nice to put in these hurricane lamps.  But found nothing except for one or two pretty holiday candles - all on sale of course - but no MATCHING pairs.

I was thinking that the old green candles would have to make do until I could find something in the new year.

Kicking myself.....Boy those birch pillars I saw - now gone of course - would have been PERFECT!!!

Then I had a light bulb moment - I could make my own birch pillars!

I already had some matching light coloured pillar candles and I have a ton of digital scrap paper.

I actually found some nice birch paper that is perfect!  So I printed off 2 pages and measured and cut and measured again and cut again and finally came up with this....

What do you think?

Here's how they look in the hurricane lamps...

They look ok don't they?  I think they are great!

BUT you know next year I'm going to buy the birch posts when I see them and also any birch pillars I can find!!

I just hope I remember.....

Happy holidays to everyone and thanks for still reading my blog!

Upcoming Holiday Sales Events

November 14, 2013

I've been busy crocheting up a storm for some upcoming craft sales events.

As well as restocking my hats and cowls, I've been making up batches of boot cuffs, head warmers and fingerless gloves.

These fingerless gloves are perfect for keeping your hands warm but your fingers free for driving and texting (not at the same time of course) and they're also great for keeping your hands warm for those late nights on the computer.

I'll be selling my hats, head warmers, gloves and boot cuffs at Elaine's Creative Dimensions Open House at 5634 Eagle Harbour Road,  West Vancouver   (click address for map) Tel 604 921 7881 on Thursday November 28th (date change)  7 -10 pm and also Thursday December 5th  7-10pm.

And don't forget about this awesome family event at the Gleneagles Holiday Artisan Festival on Saturday November 30 11-4pm.  Click HERE for link to Google Map.

Making Cheesey Goodness

November 13, 2013

I made these muffins today using 

a pkg of Philsbury Flaky Rolls and shredded cheddar cheese and bacon bits.  

So good!!

Upcoming Craft Fairs and Classes

Hello everyone in Blogland!!

If anyone is still reading this blog I'd like to let you know that I will be at 2 upcoming craft fairs and teaching All Occasion One-Sheet-Wonder Classes this fall.

Sunday Oct 6 - I'll be at the West Vancouver Community Centre Pumpkinfest event.  Click the link and check out all the great activities planned!

Saturday Oct 19 - I'm teaching an All Occasion One-Sheet-Wonder class at ScrapArts.  Please call the store at 604-980-8811 to sign up (space is limited).

Friday Nov 22 - I'm teaching the All Occasion One-Sheet-Wonder class again at ScrapArts for those that missed it the first time or wanting to do it again!  Please call the store to register at 604-980-8811 (space is limited).


Sunday Nov 30 - I'll be at the Gleneagles Community Centre Christmas Festival.  There will be lots of fun for everyone including an Artisan Market in the main gym area.