Shed Building Plans: inspired

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Disney World inspired stone accent wall progress

Walt Disney World. My second home. I love all things Disney but it is so much more than the theme parks. I LOVE the architecture of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Each resort is its own individual themed world. I love the way the Disney Imagineers utilize stone work. It is simply gorgeous. Two of my favorite stone walls are at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort and the Beach Club.

Once I knew I wanted some type of stone accent in my living room, I looked for inspiration photos. The one below, in my own camera, was the look I was hoping to achieve. This is from the entrance of the Beach Club, one of my favorite places on Disney property.

Enter Craigslist. I found a listing for left over stone from a patio paver project. It was actual stone as opposed to veneer and was about 10 square feet. So I bargained the price down, drove up and loaded it into the car. I was SO worried the tires were going to explode on the way home but thankfully, I made it home. PHEW!

I unloaded it - not a fun task - and stacked it on the driveway. I had never done any type of project such as this so I Googled a lot.

So up went the waterproof barrier first applied with a staple gun. So far so good! Next game the metal lath. This is a nightmare. In the checkout line, I cut my fingers on the rough edge which is like razor sharp. I started to bleed all over the place - so embarrassing! I was on my hands and knees wiping blood up off the floor - it was quite gross. This was the worst part of the job. Buying it, transporting it and applying it with an electronic staple gun.

Next came the scratch coat. This is not a pretty job and not very kind to a manicures. :-) Even wearing gloves, mixing the mortar and applying the thin coat to the lath is a messy job. Yuck!

Then I had to lightly score the mortar for better adhesion. And as Mary Poppins says, "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun". So I scored the wall with a few Mickey heads. LOL.

Next came application of the stone. I am a huge fan of jigsaw puzzles - either you love them or you hate them and I love them. Applying the stone is like a giant life size puzzle with different sizes and shapes of pieces. If you are a little anal, life myself, this takes forever. But I hope the arduous task will totally be worth it.

The first stones in place. I placed a solid piece of wood to serve as a level surface to ensure an even application.

More progress. When I stepped back and looked at this - I hated it. It looked very messy with no flow. So, I pried off the stones and started over. I hated to do it but in the end, I was much happier! As Queen Clarisse says in Princess Diaries, "Better. Much better!"

And this is where I am right now. 2/3 done - getting really excited!

Since the stone is real, the weight is considerable. Since I am concerned about the floor supporting the weight, I am going to go under the crawlspace with a support jack. I see they are about $40 and can allow for an additional 18,000 pounds of weight support. They look like this...

I am also attempting a Pinterest pin regarding DIY air vents. These are in such a prominent place that I didnt want to put back the conventional vent style covers. Hopefully this wont be a Pinterest fail. :-O

So that is my wall progress. I hope I can post a reveal by Friday. I am quite excited to see this messy project finished. Have a great weekend! Go IRISH - beat Oklahoma.

Disney World inspired stone accent wall progress

Boston Inspired Master Closet Make Over!

Boston. Such an amazing city. Tonight, the worlds attention is on this American treasure because of the awfulness that occurred at the Boston Marathon earlier today. My heart is indeed heavy and I am sad, angry, frustrated and even a little bit scared. I visited Boston for only my second time in November 2012 for the Notre Dame vs. Boston College football game and I fell in love with this historical city all over again.

While exploring Newbury Street, one of my most favorite shopping streets in the world, I was introduced to the world of Jack Wills. It is a store imported from Great Britain and its signature colors are navy blue and pink stripes. The store is amazing and I became an instant fan. I chose to use that Jack Wills inspired color scheme in my master closet makeover.

There arent a lot of great things about being single, but it is definitely a perk that I dont have share a remote control or a closet. And even though I hold out hope for meeting and marrying the man of my dreams, for now I will seek solace in enjoying MY new closet which is mine... all mine. LOL

I dont believe I am going to post these BEFORE pictures. Yikes - this closet held a LOT of stuff. Everything from clothes to Christmas decorations, lamps and even a big Santa Claus. Do you have holiday decorations in your closet? I dont have the luxury of a basement but I still dont know why we do this. :-)

These lamps were here only temporary so they wouldnt get broken but then there are some Easter baskets and an Eddie Bauer Home Store (now defunct) teddy bear which was a gift from my Mom.

So here we have an empty closet and a hardwood underlayment from tearing up the carpeting.

I started with some basic white stripes and only used paint which I had in the house. I then moved to a navy paint which I decided against for the dining room. I knew I had a quart of "oops" paint which I picked up for a $1 last summer to have on hand in case I came up with an idea for it. :-)

My favorite color combo - navy and white! I was thrilled with the stripes!

I then primed and painted the floor white an really liked the open feeling of the empty closet. I decided not to put the back shelf and rod back the way it was. I had this overcrowded bookcase in the laundry room downstairs and decided to use that in the closet for room for sweaters and folded shirts.

I washed it and covered the shelves in this adorable pink shelf liner from MacBeth. I found three packs on clearance at Marshalls. It was the perfect color!

I put the book case in place and placed the large shelf on top which worked out perfectly. I then cut up the long pole into smaller sections and attached them to the wall and the bookcase. I covered them as well in the pink shelf liner for a more polished look. I then had extra wood shelves from the dining room hutch I broke apart and used a circular saw to make shelves which fit between the bookcase and the wall. This created little cubbies which are perfect for shoes or smaller items.

This is probably my favorite part of the closet. I hung this bar low to the ground so as not to waste space but to create a place just for my tennis skirts. It worked out perfectly.

When it came to the floor, I wanted something a little kicky. So I decided to do a monogram and an anchor just for fun. I found the initial decals on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $1. Sweet.

I started to move in some pieces to see how it is all going to work out. I wish I didnt have a ton of stuff to fit in this space although, rest assured, Santa Claus is not coming back in. :-) Cheers!

Boston Inspired Master Closet Make Over!

Anthro Inspired Welcome Sign

I am on a welcome sign kick this week - chalk it up to my new front porch!! While scrolling through Pinterest I found a photo of old doorknob plates used as a street number sign. I was going to replicate that look but the numbers would have been a bit too small to see from the street. Instead I went with yet another welcome sign...

Plus I scored an scrabble set at the Thrift shop a few weeks ago & I was delighted to use some of the tiles for this project.

Anthro Inspired Welcome Sign

Inspired

Some little something has me so intrigued with beekeeping. Leah, over at The Burbs and the Bees is a beekeeper and I can say with all honesty that she motivates me even more to want to do this. My husband thinks I am nuts. "Just call the local beekeeping company and see if they will store some on our property. There wont be any work on our part that way." Well its the work aspect that intrigues me so. I want to inspect the hive and see the bees busily at work, improving my environment. Did you know having a backyard beeyard will help to keep this species healthier and intact. They are in trouble in the USA and many crops depend solely on honey bees to polinate the fields. Your food needs them. My food needs them. They will also help my garden look even better next year.

I am 2/3 of the way through the book in the photo and it is nearly a cant put down kind of book for me. I actually thought reading it would quell my curiosity but it has only made it more profound. More to come as my winter research continues. I need to finish this book so I can read the Raising Mini Donkeys book that came in the mail yesterday. Three more weeks until the boys come to their new home! Cant wait.

Inspired