Come on a little journey through my attempt at a massive (definitely bit off way more than I should have) redecoration of my daughters' bedroom. These are the details of the good, the bad and the ugly. But the video at the end will illustrate exactly why it was worth the blood, sweat and tears!

Let me start by saying that I'm not a typical DIY person. My DIY experience has always come out of a necessity to keep costs low. Basically, I'm always on a tight budget, so I have to do it myself!

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Cori Skall
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I usually have a vision for how I want things to turn out, and not the least bit of direction on how to make those things happen, usually, so I make stuff up as I go along. This quality has made for some of the worst decisions and best learning experiences I've ever had.

Now that we've established those things, let me tell you how this all began.

My mom has a problem. She won't stop buying my girls clothes, especially dresses. She is generous, to a fault, yes. But she also turns a deaf ear to my pleas to stop as the one closet the girls share in their rooms busts at the seems. So, in January, I started to brainstorm ways to maximize space in their little bedroom, so that all 3 girls could grow into their room, wardrobes and all. (Side note: I purge clothes all the time, so it's not so much a matter of "well, if you just get rid of things..." because a lot of the clothes are in between sizes, so they'll fit one or the other soon.) So the laundry in my house never ends, and I just didn't have a place to put it all...except my bed or the couch!

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Cori Skall
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After some research, I came up with a plan to put all the girls in loft beds, and build clothes storage underneath. I had gotten some really sturdy dressers for wicked cheap a few years ago at the Umaine Yard Sale, and figured I'd try my luck again this year. So I stood out in line in front of the Alfond, on a cold, wet day at the end of May, and went in search of the materials to use.

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Cori Skall
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Unfortunately they didn't have any dressers this year. But what they did have was a handful of big old filing cabinets, for like $5 a piece. SOLD! I had a friend who was getting rid of a couple of shorter block bureaus, and I found the beds on the FB marketplace--all for under $100 a bed. Not a bad deal. Armed with some paint, some decorations I got online, my used goods and a ton of coffee, I got started. First order of business, get rid of the old, rickety bedroom set that was at least 40 years old and falling apart.

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Cori Skall
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Old bedroom set curbside!
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Second order of business, clean and paint those filing cabinets. But since it was really rainy for that stretch at the end of the month, I thought I'd try spray painting inside. Not the best idea. Paint got everywhere! The floor.

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Cori Skall
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My hands and feet.

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Cori Skall
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And despite my best effort to ventilate, it even got all over the screens.

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Cori Skall
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So on the advice of some professionals (because I'm not to proud to ask for help. Or maybe just cry into the arms of the folks in the paint department!) I switched to an oil-based, non-spray paint.

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Cori Skall
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What they had failed to tell me, though, was that it was going to take up to a week to actually dry! So that put a bit of a wrench in my timetable! (I had one week where my kids would be gone, and I could get everything taken apart and put back together!) Despite this bump in the road, I got all the dressers and cabinets painted the colors that my girls had requested.

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Cori Skall
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Cori Skall
Cori Skall
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The next step was prepping the room, which had been painted a pretty blue, and covered in teddy-bear art, for a bit of a change. Oh, and I had to putty up a decade of tiny holes!

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Cori Skall
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After the first coat, I realized why they called the color "Yellow bird". It really did look like Big Bird had exploded. And what was worse, the blue kept bleeding through!

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Cori Skall
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It took about 5 coats of paint to cover the blue.

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Cori Skall
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All that was left to do, before I could start assembling this vision of mine, was to do a quick touch up of the ceiling.I started this last leg of things at about 11PM on Friday night. And then this happened...

The ceiling started to come off...
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The ceiling started coming off... on my paint roller!

...on to the paint roller!
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Needless to say, I was not impressed.

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Cori Skall
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So, after a minor melt-down, and some consultation with neighbors and friends, special sealing/priming paint was purchased as soon as the hardware store was open. After that dried, it was time to finally hit the home-stretch!

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Cori Skall
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Cori Skall
Cori Skall
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Cori Skall
Cori Skall
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Putting the beds together took about 3 hours. Putting up the decals (each individual butterfly had to be places by hand. There were a lot of those suckers!) took about the same amount of time!

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Cori Skall
Cori Skall
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Cori Skall
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I also noticed that the spot of paint that I'd sealed up started to peel off again, so I improvised and stuck a giant butterfly over it! Problem solved!

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Cori Skall
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But the finished room came out kind of cool, if I do say so myself!

The finished room!
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Cori Skal

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Cori Skall
Cori Skall
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When I put away the clothes that have been living in a dozen hampers in my bedroom, living room and guest room for the last 2 years, there was room to spare! So do your best, Mom!

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Cori Skall
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Cori Skall
Cori Skall
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Labels for drawers in place!
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But the best part of it, was the reactions my girls had when they came home! (see video of the reveal below!)

The oldest likes it!
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Mary in the middle likes it!
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The tiny one likes it!
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Totally worth it!

 

 

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