Blog Series: 14 Weeks to a Re-Designed Home

   Okay so this afternoon as I was driving home from Church I had a major revelation.  "How the heck is anyone going to be able to implement my design Ideas without me giving them a plan to do so?!"  Inspired by the "Worship Series" that my church puts on I decided to start a blog series.  So I am going to do a 14 week series of how to re-design your home.  Hopefully this will give people a plan of attack when making their house a home.
   I have mapped out a 14 week schedule that you can implement into your busy lifestyles to create the home of your dreams on a budget as well as with a busy schedule.  You may fast track this plan and get it done in less time, or you may take a little longer than the 14 week time frame.  Every other Sunday I will be giving you your "homework" for the following 2 weeks and then during that two weeks I will post several blogs with ideas related to the task for the two weeks.  Hopefully this will inspire you all to get those little things done around the house that you have been wanting to for a while.  I am also hoping that people will post questions and comments so we can all learn from each others mistakes, triumphs and learning experiences.
   Unfortunately I won't be joining in on the process because my house is already an awesome example of a well designed home :)  J/K...I will be working on my basement constantly over the next 14 weeks so I will be doing a similar thing, just not on the exact same schedule as everyone else.

Weeks 1 & 2: Plan of Attack (Planning your finances, time and paint)
   The good news about these first 2 week is that you will not be doing ANY physical labor...YAY!  The bad news is that you will be doing all of the mental labor during this time.  So everyone strap on your thinking caps and lets get started!!
   TASKS:
   1.PLANNING YOUR FINANCES:  When thinking about how to plan out my basement, the first thing I needed to do was plan out how much money I could spend on each step of the process.  I think its a good idea to plan your money around your pay days.  I am the type of person that if I don't buy what I need the day I get paid, I will allocate that money to lesser important things.  I get paid every 2 weeks so I am planning mine around that.  You can also plan it around a weekly or monthly pay schedule.  For myself I figured out that I can set aside around $50-$75 each pay day to allocate to my projects, that is $100-$150 a month.  You can get this done for more or less, just be honest with yourself about what you can do so you don't set yourself up for disappointment.  I would recommend that if you can't set aside that much money each month that you do a 26 week plan and spend 4 weeks on each room rather than the 2 weeks that this schedule is going on.  You can use your first 2 weeks of each segment setting aside money for the projects and your second 2 weeks doing the tasks while continuing to set aside that money.  Whatever you do, DO NOT GO OVER WHAT YOU PLANNED TO SPEND EACH PAY CHECK!  I am planning this series around the budget of $100-$200 a month.  What you can do in this time frame really is circled around how much you can set aside each time.
 
   2. PLAN YOUR TIME:  The most important thing to do is be honest with yourself.  For me, I travel ALOT and I have a very active social life when I am home so I don't have very much time a week to spend on projects.  I would guess that I have a combined total of 8-10 hours a week to dedicate to my projects.  Everyone grab a calendar and start by writing down your social schedule.  If you generally spend time with friends on Saturday evenings make sure your write that down, also write down any events, parties, etc.  I know that no one knows what they will be doing 14 weeks from now, so you can do this every 2 weeks if you need to.  Once you have written down your social schedule, start writing down your family time, TV time, work time, etc.  Anything that you generally do during the week.  If you have to change your schedule drastically you will get burnt out and you won't finish the projects in the time frame that you want to.  So now after you have done all of that, THEN start writing in when you plan on working on your projects.  I really thing that you can get these projects done by dedicating less than 6 hours a week.

   3.  PLAN YOUR PAINT AND DESIGN:  Look all over the internet and find pictures that you are planning on using as your inspiration.  I would NOT encourage anyone to buy a design magazine to do this.  If you have the internet (which you must if you are reading this) look up photos of rooms on google.com, hgtv.com, elledecor.com, etc.  Figure out what colors you gravitate to and come up with a general idea of what you want your color pallet to be. (I will be posting several blogs that deal with color and design over the next two weeks so you can get more information that way as well).  Once you figure out your colors come up with a paint plan for your entire house.  If most of your walls are already a neutral color I would try to implement that color into your paint/design plan.  This means less painting for you which translates into less time and money spent on the project.  Here are pictures of a paint plan I did for work so you have an idea of what you should be doing with your paint plan.

Now I know that most of you do not have an architectural program that allows you to draw out your house.  That is totally fine, grab a piece of printer paper or some graph paper and just sketch the layout of your house out the best you can.  The size/shape of the rooms doesn't really need to be accurate.  As you can see in these plans I have called out "accent walls".  Once you find out your color pallet, find the dominate color in that pallet and use that as your accent wall paint.  If you are planning your family room you will want an accent wall to be the focal point wall (fireplace wall, sofa wall, etc.)  In your bedroom, your accent wall should be the wall that your bed is on.  You might want to pick out a lighter version of your color, or a lighter color in the pallet to paint your small spaces (bathrooms, mud rooms, laundry rooms, etc.)

Here's How your next 14 weeks will be laid out:

Weeks 1 & 2: Planning your finances, time, design and paint

Weeks 3 & 4: Family room

Weeks 5 & 6: Master Bedroom

Weeks 7 & 8: Dining Room

Weeks 9 & 10: Bathrooms

Weeks 11 & 12: Kitchen

Weeks 13 & 14: Artwork

If you live in a rental property where you are unable to paint, don't worry I am not excluding you.  I will be giving you ideas of what you can do to your walls WITHOUT painting :)

Okay, so that's all of your homework for the next two weeks!  Get to work!

If you have any questions about any of this feel free to comment. 

P.S. Everyone should go out and buy the January 2011 edition of the Builder Magazine, my work along with my coworkers work is published in there.  We merchandised The New American Home this year!  If you are cheap like me you can also probably find pictures of it on google.com...I'd be happy to autograph and include a personal message on any magazines that you all buy :)

Re-Use, Re-Cycle, "ReStore" your home!

Okay, so Ryan's mom Pam introduced me to the amazing concept of the Habitat for Humanity's "ReStores".  Am I seriously one of the last people to know about this amazing gem?!  If you don't know what this is, let me give you a little run-down....

Basically Habitat for Humanity accepts donations of used building materials from individuals, contractors and retailers.  They then sell those donated goods to the public at a fraction of the cost that you could buy something similar at Home Depot or Lowe's.  They use the profits to do all of the amazing good that they do around the world.  So not only are you saving yourself money, you are helping save the planet AND helping needy members of your community.  Go to www.habitat.org to find out more about the ReStore closest to you.

Here are a list of things that you should look for at your ReStore and how you can use them to spruce up your home...

1. CROWN MOLDING!!!  I think it is VERY apparent to all of us how much of an upgrade crown molding is in your home.  The last time I popped into ReStore for a quick gander I found enough matching crown molding to do at least 3 rooms of my house.  It was an oak color, but you could always sand it down and paint it white.  I think it was $3 for an 8ft piece, compared to $14 per 8ft piece at Home Depot.  For my little living room that takes about 9 boards the difference in cost would be $99 for that room, so about $300 if you did 3 rooms.  Unfortunately I promised myself that I wouldn't buy anything that day, so I passed up the deal knowing that next time I go there I will most likely be able to find something similar.  Here's a link with instruction and videos that explains how to hang crown molding... www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-hang-crown-molding

2. Small molding (around 1 1/4")  This is quite possibly my favorite type of molding because you can do SOO much with it.  A HUGE upgrade to your home could be Faux Wainscoting, this is really great in your formal areas, but I also love it in more casual settings as well.  I could go into the INSANELY long process of explaining how to, but it would bore you to tears so here is a how to link  www.doityourself.com/stry/3-faux-wainscoting-ideas  

 Here's a picture of faux wainscoting before and after...

Another thing you can do with small trim is make a faux headboard, this is something that I am going to attempt myself in the next couple months for my guest room...  Trim out the correct size that you want the headboard to be.  You can do one of several things to the inside of the trim, you can wallpaper, paint an accent color, wrap fabric around the correct size board and nail that up there.  Here's a few pics of faux headboards

This one is trimmed out and then has a pattern painted in the middle of the trim - You could also simply paint the middle part a solid color.

This one has wall paper in the middle of the trim.

Here are a few other pictures of things you can do with trim....

  

  

Okay so this last one looks pretty impossible, but MAN it sure does look cool!

3. The next thing you should be on the look out for is light fixtures, whether you live in a newer home or an older home most likely some of your light fixtures are out dated.  ReStore has tons of over head lighting as well as wall sconces.  This is a VERY simple upgrade to your home that will have you enjoying it even more.

4. Flooring is also a great price at ReStore.  Now I wouldn't put their flooring just anywhere unless you are the luckiest person alive and find some really nice stuff.  They always have carpet tiles, vinyl flooring, etc.  PERFECT stuff for that quick basement or play room project.

5. The list of items that you can find goes ON and ON!  Basically, if you have a home project and you want to save some dough stop in to your nearest ReStore...I'd bet $5 they have what you are looking for (I hope you all know I am NOT forking up $5 if you prove me wrong)

Adding some RETRO flair!

If you guys know ANYTHING about me, you know I am a TOTAL sucker for all things retro.  So its only fitting that my first blog be a tribute to my favorite design style.  As most of you know, that retro design style is coming back in full force.  In my case I would totally deck out my house with carpet on the walls, disco balls hanging from the ceiling and bright orange and teal furniture EVERYWHERE!  Most people that read this are not freaks like me so I am going to give you some simple tips to adding a small amount of retro flair into your home.  The easiest (and cheapest) way to do this is with accessories.  Go to a local antique store (for KC residents I recommend Weird Stuff Antiques - www.weirdstuffantiques.com) and look for unique accessories/household items that fit your design style.

Here's my list of MUST buy accessories:
1. Retro phones in bright colors - Even though lots of you don't have a house phone, you can simply un-hook the cord from the phone and use it as an accessory on an end table.  As the popularity for these phones grows, so does the price.  So if you can find one for cheap you should nab it up, if you don't like it in your house sell it on craigslist and make a profit. ($30 is the average price for a cool retro phone on ebay)
2. Old Radios - Whether they are in bright colors or not, I just LOVE these.  Cut the cords off of them and use them in a book shelf, on your end table, or as an accessory on your coffee table.  These bad boys are SUPER cool and a definite conversation piece.
3. Retro Lamps - Although companies are trying to re-create this little treasures, they just can't compare to the originals.  Look for fun lamps that have a unique shape and design to the base.  Don't worry if the shade is damaged, you can always purchase a shade at target or lowes.  If you find a Pair of vintage/retro lamps that are unique you BETTER grab them.  Pairs of antique lamps that are in good shape are very hard to find.
4. Ash Trays - I know that most of you are saying "But Brandi, I don't even smoke", I am telling you "I don't care!"  Back in the day when most adults smoked they came up with some pretty nifty ash trays.  The good thing about them is they are small and thus perfect for filling spaces in your book shelf or on your coffee table.  The even better thing is that if you get a cool one, they really hold their value meaning that when you are sick of it you can sell it for at least what you bought it for.

If you are a little more daring you might want to try implementing some retro furniture into your home as well.  I would definitely start with small amounts.  Case good pieces (wood pieces) are the first things that I would grab up.

My MUST have furniture pieces:
1. Those delectably funky 2 tier end tables.  The best part about these is they don't really have to match the rest of your furniture to make a fun statement.  You can generally get these for CHEAP!  If its not in the best shape why not sand it down and paint it a fun color?
2. Boomerang coffee tables - when you see one in person you will know why they are a must have.  They are totally cool and make me feel as if I am on an episode of the Jetsons.
3. Long Stereo Cabinets - The best modern use for these would be as an Entertainment cabinet.  These can be a bit harder to find one in good shape and for a good price so be patient, when you find the right one you will know.
4. Accent chairs - They have all sorts of accent chairs in fun colors, all shapes and sized and from all Eras.  You can generally get a fun vintage chair for less than $100, and they are small enough to be used almost anywhere in your house.

Knowing most of my friends, I would guess that you are thinking "gee, I have been in Brandi's house and haven't noticed much retro flair" I will tell you all, just wait....I am planning my retro attack on my basement and have given myself a personal goal of 6 months to give it that bright, funky, small town bowling alley feel.  I'll make sure to post pics after its done :)