Archive for December, 2009
Reader Redesign: Get Board
When Lyzz sent along her awesome DIY chalkboard door project we couldn’t wait to share the goods. Here’s her letter:
I found your blog about 6 months ago and have been addicted ever since. I read it every single day and always find so much inspiration. I wanted to share a quick before & after that we took on. We’ve seen many homes painted with chalkboard paint and loved the look but unfortunately most of the homes in California have textured walls, so it was never going to work. Instead, I took the door connecting the house to the garage and used it as a large canvas for chalkboard opportunities. We added a chalkboard calendar by taking a little more time to measure out the appropriate size for a calendar. Since we didn’t want to use blue painters tape for the grid since it’s so wide, my car enthusiast of a husband suggested we used vehicle pin stripe tape (1/8 inch width) and it worked wonders! Two coats of paint and a couple of hours later, we got a great message board that’s perfect for our busy household. The amazing part is that the project only cost about as much as purchasing a modest size message board from the store (approximately $14 including chalkboard paint and pin stripe tape). Keep up the amazing work on your blog! – Lyzz
Isn’t that awesome? We love everything about it from the amazingly graphic and functional calendar boxes to the extra space on top and below for everything from love notes to grocery lists. Great job Lyzz! And to learn more about her awesome chalkboard DIY just drop in on her blog! Meanwhile, we’ll just be dreaming of a door to chalkboard-ify ourselves…
Fab Freebie: Finishing Touches
***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries***
We thought we’d finish off this year with a prize all about finishing off a major remodeling project (or even just a quick furniture upgrade) the right way. For instance, although we’re spending major time on tile and paint when it comes to our bathroom project – we haven’t forgotten about the little things like fixtures and molding. And when we completed our kitchen in 2008, we went to at least four stores just to find the perfect knobs and pulls. So, with that in mind, we bring you a fun little year-ending giveaway from Builder Resources (i.e. CabinetKnob.com).
While their URL certainly suggests a specialty in knobs and pulls (from tradition to modern and everything in between)…
… they’re also a great resource for other finishing touches like mirrors, closet accessories, molding, vanities, sinks and even kitchen islands.
And since we couldn’t bear to narrow their selection down for this week’s prize, the folks at CabinetKnob.com are graciously offering up an $100 gift card, so one lucky winner can snag anything their little heart desires from their entire site. Here are the deets:
- PRIZE: $100 gift card towards any purchase at CabinetKnob.com
- TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “FINISH ME!” and…
- BONUS QUESTION: …share how you plan to finish the year off right. A big New Year’s Eve party? Finally tackling some of this year’s resolutions? Or, like us, a quiet dinner for two?
- GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, December 30th at 8pm EST
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: One
- PRIZE SHIPS: All 50 United States and Canada
- USUAL STUFF: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday. Good luck!
Get more info about our freebies on our Giveaway FAQs page. Pics courtesy of CabinetKnob.com.
Overheard.
One of the (many) benefits to being with child is that I’ve been exiled from the bathroom for some of the rougher renovation undertakings. Although it’s sort of sad too, because I love to swing the ol’ sledgehammer from time to time. But the boys (John and his handy tile-slingin’ dad)…
… mysteriously sealed themselves into the room with a big plastic tarp just to foil my view (ok, really to keep the house free of flying debris and potential lead paint dust, but still).
The good news is that I could still manage to hear pretty well through their plastic bubble of sorts, so every once in a while I’d catch a fraction of their mano a mano conversations. And boy were they weird.
Here are a few examples:
- “It’s like a baby saw. Not a saw you would give to a baby, but it’s baby sized.” – John
- “Oh man I hope this works.” – John’s dad (and yes, I did sweat bullets after this one)
- “Fire in the hole!” – John (who knows what they were doing…)
- “(Muffled) I’m glad we have these gas masks on.” – Couldn’t tell, too muffled (this might have been a fart joke)
- “I feel like the Queen of England” – John (what on Earth was going on in there?)
- “Hi honey!” – John’s dad (in his defense, I think he was answering his cell phone)
- “Don’t cry for me Argentina!” – John’s dad (this was the punch line to some joke he was telling)
In short it was really odd to hear snippets of their chatter about the bathroom reno, life in general, and even the odd bad joke. Have you ever overheard part of a conversation and desperately tried to make sense of it? It’s hard work, and usually nearly impossible. At least around here it seemed to be.
But enough jibber jabber, I know you’re all are tapping your feet and muttering “pictures please” so I’ll share these few tub/shower tile teaser photos. Of course we still have to cram all those cracks and crevices with sparkling white grout (it’ll look even more seamless after that crucial step), but here’s the first phase of Operation Subway Tile:
And here’s the second phase (John went all the way up to our slightly uneven ceiling with those babies):
And here’s another shot taken after we primed and painted the walls and freshly laid the floor (which also needs grout- it’ll be a rich chocolate color to blend with the dark mocha marble tiles). It’s amazing how it’s slowly starting to look like a room again- and we love how the wall color we chose (which we’ll share in a later post) works with those pretty marble tiles. It’s really coming along in there, eh?
After all, it did look like this just a few short weeks ago:
Stay tuned for the full tiling play by play (after all the end-of-year madness comes and goes) along with more details on the paint color we chose and the rest of the finishing details. In the meantime, what’s the weirdest thing that you’ve ever overheard? Do tell.
Psst- Wanna read about the first few chapters of the big bathroom makeover? Check out Chapter One, Chapter Two, and Chapter Three right here.
Jolly Good Times
By now you’re all probably off with your family eating gingerbread and tearing into some presents but we just wanted to share the holiday card we whipped up for our loved ones (since you’re all on our virtual mailing list). We wish you guys a very happy and sweet holiday with the ones you love. And speaking of love, we adore every last one of you for dropping in to see what we’re up to over here at Casa Petersik. Your support and encouragement never fail to put smiles on our faces each and every day, and we’re full of gratitude for the amazing year we’ve been fortunate enough to share with all of you.
So don’t forget to enjoy some eggnog for me (thanks to the bean it’s off limits this year) while you celebrate the best part of having a place to call home: sharing it with the ones you love. Here’s to many more adventures (and misadventures) in 2010!
Psst- Wanna see our favorite holiday card of all time? It’s actually the first one we made from ’07.
Pssssst- Wanna know how we create our cards? We just take photos, mess around with them in Photoshop, print them at one of those automatic CVS or Target photo kiosks and pop them in the mail. They only cost around 30 cents per picture and they’re oh so personalized and fun!
(Anything But) A White Christmas Freebie Winners!
We know you’re probably all itching to get your holiday on right about now, so we’ll try to cut to the chase. As you guys probably remember, Christmas is coming a day early for FIVE of you thanks to this week’s giveaway from Glidden paint. And being quite fond of Glidden’s color selections ourselves, we’re pretty excited for the handful of you whose new year will be off to a colorful start.
So we peeked in random.org’s stocking and pulled out the names of our five winners who will each be receiving a voucher for a free can of Glidden paint (in any color & finish) to be redeemed at their local Home Depot. Here they are in no particular order:
- Bao (who’s digging white with blue accents)
- Allison (the one that’s rocking red, white and silver this year)
- Ali (whose green walls require a subtle silver and white scheme)
- Tawna (who’s down for some silver and white paired with lime green and red)
- Anna (whose paint will be going towards creating a soft yellow office)
And as 2009 comes to a close next week, we’re wrapping up a year full of giveaways with one last ’09 freebie before twenty-ten takes over. And it may or may not involve a $100 gift card…
Get more info about our freebies on our Giveaway FAQs page.
