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The Man Cave.

May 21, 2010 By

So I apologize for being MIA. It’s been a cRazY week! Not only have I been trying to get the Man Cave wrapped up, but we’re having 40-50 people over (Navy thing) tomorrow night!!!!  Ahhhh. Oh yeah, AND we’re providing all the food and drinks!  AAaaahhhh. Luckily, my sister Caroline has been here and she’s been an extra pair of hands. My hubby has been doing the shopping, yard work, house clean up for the party, while Caroline and I have been putting the Man Cave together.  Even with her help, I’ve been up till 1 or 2 am every night this week!  Yikes. Needless, to say, I’ve needed a lot of caffeine to power through my work days!!!

So, I tell you all this, not for your pity (okay, a little for your pity), but mostly because I’m going to reveal the Man Cave pictures tonight as it’s FINALLY finished! BUT…I’m not going to show you all the details until this weekend. Because, my friends, it’s 1:09am!

If you’ll remember, here is what the Man Cave looked like before. It was sad and pitiful and we didn’t spent time down there because it was sad and ugly.

And here is the before desk area:

And with some painting help from the hubby:

And lots of supervision from Caroline:

Here is what it looks like now!

As for the budget, I came in slightly over $300, which includes all the paint. We did, however, altready have the couch, entertainment center/dresser, bookshelf, and we just recently purchased the desk on craigslist. (But I did paint the bookshelf and desk). There are still a few things I’d like to purchase, but I’m pretty happy with where the room is now.

It was also a really neat project, because although my hubby helped paint the room, he knew nothing else about it. He hadn’t seen any of the new purchases or the painted furniture, and he knew nothing about my design plans. Muahahah. So tonight, I totally surprised him with the completed room. He was so excited, and it was so much fun to give him such a neat room–he deserves it!

And with that note, I’m off to bed! Be sure to stay tuned this weekend to see just how I did it all!

-This American Wife

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Exhausted!

May 16, 2010 By

So it’s been a busy weekend filled to the brim with decorating stuff.  Friday afternoon, my sister Caroline and I went to the home improvement store to purchase paint for the Man Cave!  We settled on Valspar’s “Jekyll Club Pulitzer Blue”.

No, the paint is not actually up on the walls yet, BUT the room has been cleared, cleaned, and the walls are all spackled!  We hope to paint tomorrow or Wednesday.

So why didn’t we paint?  Well, because we did a million other things! Caroline and I went garage saleing yesterday morning. And I have a new favorite iPhone ap–iGarageSale. It pulls garage sale listings from craigslist (where I usually get my garage sale listings) and superimposes them on a map.  You can scroll through the listings or search them for keywords and then tag your favorites. You can then have your map display only your favorites, and even give you directions!  Pretty cool, eh?

We ended up getting “stuck” at this Estate Sale for over an hour.  We only ended up buying one thing there, but it was sooooo cool.  They were selling EVERYTHING in the house.  And it was open for people just to walk through. Kind of creepy and really neat all at the same time.  Both Caroline and I fell in love with this room I dubbed the “Hardy Boy Bedroom” because it looked like the Hardy boys lived there. It had two twin beds covered in plaid blankets, a bunch of fishing poles tucked away in the corner, a closet full of old cameras and projectors, a dresser covered in atlases and gazetteers, the shelves were lined with model airplanes, and the bed was littered with old catchers mitts, baseball bats, and baseballs, a small table in the corner held some science experiment equipment. Seriously, it was so cool. We didn’t end up buying anything out of the room, it wasn’t exactly my style, but it was just so  awesome that both Caroline and I had to spend some time in there!

Anyway, so after the garage sales, we hit the thrift stores. We got home and were both pretty pooped so we took some naps, then got up and did some projects related to the man cave renovations, which will remain secret at this time. I’m trying to surprise my hubby with the new design (he knows the paint color, but not much else), and he’s a blog reader, so I’m going to save all the project details until after I reveal the design to him!

Today, the hubby, my sister, and I drove down to Pasadena to visit the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts. If you’ve never been to a showhouse, be sure to look up one in your area–they are so neat. Basically, a nonprofit organization picks a house (usually a mansion), the family moves out, and participating interior designers in the area each are assigned a room to decorate. The organization then charges people to tour the home. The nonprofit organization raises money, designers get publicity, the homeowners get a free renovation, and the visitors get lots of great ideas! The Pasadena showhouse is one of the best I’ve ever been to. I think my hubby and I both decided we like last year’s a bit better, but the house this year was pretty incredible. You can learn more about the Pasadena Showhouse here.

I’m so excited to finish up with my redecorating of the Man Cave. I’ll be sure to share lots of pictures with you!

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I’ve got an itch.

May 13, 2010 By

So since last fall, when we painted our master bedroom,  I haven’t taken on any major decorating projects.  A few small things here and there, yes. But nothing major.  Well, I’ve been itching to start a project, and the Man Cave has been calling me.  Here’s what it looks like right now.

I’ve challenged myself to a $100 room makeover (and no, that does not include the desk I purchased last week). My hubby has all these grand ideas of a new couch, a big new desks, changing out the cabinets, etc. But those things are all a bit down the road. Right now, we don’t spend much time in that room, because, frankly, it’s a little depressing.  It has a tv, a desk, and a ton of storage. But it also has yellow walls. And you can’t see the tv from the desk. And it’s just not very cohesive. So I’m going to change all that. For $100 (or somewhere around there), I’m going to make it a great room. A room we can live with and at least use until the day we can afford to really make it over. So stay tuned!

P.S. I think I may have given restarted my Craigslist addiction after all that Craigslist talk last week!  Yikes!

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Twenty Dollar Tuesday

May 11, 2010 By

Today’s tip (and yes, it’s another FREE idea)? Go shopping in your own house.

Since my hubby and I are still in the process of furnishing our home, we don’t have a garage full of old furniture…but even if you’re like us, you can almost always find something to repurpose in your house. For months now, I’ve had my eye out for an inexpensive table or entertainment center to put our tv on in the Man Cave. But, alas, I’ve found nothing.  But today, when I was fixing up the upstairs guest bedroom for my sister Caro to visit (she’s coming tomorrow!!!), I started thinking about how much I didn’t like the really modern dresser in our upstairs bedroom. You can kind of see it here in this picture…over in the corner:

The style of this bedroom, especially with the addition of the new nightstand is kind of girly and quaint.  Sort of shabby chic.  The dresser is just too modern. I hated to get rid of it though, as it’s part of a set–the bed frame and the armoire are in our downstairs guest room.  But if I put it in the downstairs bedroom, I’m afraid that room would feel too cluttered.

Then it hit me…if I take the mirror off this dresser, THIS could be a great place to put the tv in the Man Cave!!!  So there you have it, I just needed to look in my own house the time!

So next time you need a new piece of furniture, look around your house…and I mean REALLY look at what you have in each room and how you use it.  Could that dresser be a buffet table in your dining room?  Could that old dining room table make a neat desk? How about that old wooden chair that’s been sitting in your garage? Could that be the missing accent for your front porch? Go explore your house and see what you can come up with!  Happy shopping!

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