Entryway Command Center Part 3: Rope Trimmed Accent Wall

Details, details! The "command center" has come along nicely - it's been a really smooth project so far, but something's missing. More gold? Nah.. Ralph had an idea, and pitched it to me with the expectations that I'd think it was nuts. He said, "what if we lined where the walls meet the crown molding with some sort of rope?" -----and I was silent.

Genius! I loved the idea.  Have you ever heard or thought of putting a trim on the walls? I'm hooked.  See - we have these weird walls (I'm sure they aren't that weird, everyone has 'em.) The texturing is so... textured... that it makes it really hard to make a clean line in the corners. Even with tape. So covering with a cute rope is perfect! All you need is rope, and a glue gun.

Hold on real quick - did you  notice I swapped the plant out? In the Entryway Command Center: Part 2 post I used a bundle of grasses as our plant.  Well,  remember how I had a redwood cutting living on my desk for over a month? It's still going strong (month 2!), so I figured, why not put another one here:

I'm so impressed with how long these stay fresh - I change the water regularly and they stay bright green. Even in low light!

We have so many popping up around here that I'll never run out.  Problem solved!

Back to the project - we went rope shopping, and found this 1/4" Manila Rope at Home Depot.  You can also find it on Amazon if you aren't up for the trek to HD - I know it can be a lot! (I've seriously just given up and put things back before, when I can't find what I need, or someone to cut this or that...ha! I'm so impatient sometimes)

 

So, pretty simple here, just start hot glue-ing your rope into the corners.  This worked really well with two people, I quickly ran the glue while Ralph pushed the rope in.

If you've worked with hot glue before, you know this low temperature stuff peels off easily. So if you mess up, just peel it off, or if you no longer want rope on the corners... just peel it all off.

Isn't that cute? It's subtle, but adds just a little detail to our wall.  Plus it goes great with the white, navy blue, gold thang....

Here's the cow!

Got a little flyaway on that one, no stress... rubs right off..

We chose this particular rope because of it's darker color, and it has a lot of rough edges.  It's also just thick enough to hide any less-than-perfect paint lines.

I found this little plaque downstairs that I bought years ago at a goodwill. Didn't have a home in our new house yet, so I tried it out. I think it works:

Well I think we are done!  Part of me wanted to put a wall filing system in the corner, near the mirror, but I think with that many drawers we can afford to keep this very clean & clutter free.

To recap, we went from this:

To a whole new, fully functional & adorable "command center":

Ignore the rope there, we were mid project. You know how it goes! Have a fantastic weekend everybody, if you decide to tackle an area in your home, send it my way - I love to see what you're up to! 

Up Next: 7 Kitchen Buffet Ideas... I'm about to swap ours out.

-Jesse

OMG - did you notice it's Friday the 13th? Creepy...

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Posts you may have missed:

• Entryway Command Center: Part 1 - Painting the Walls
• Entryway Command Center: Part 2 - Card Catalog Makeover

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Entryway Command Center: Part 2 - Card Catalog Makeover

Hey there! Last time we chatted, I showed you how we are embarking on the remodel of our Entryway Command Center, starting with the navy blue paint.  I introduced my card catalog in it's before state (yellow, black, and cream....) and now I'm ready to reveal it's new look:

Mmmm! Smell that? Fresh spray paint.... one of my favorite smells, despite the fact that those fumes are probably not healthy. Ha! A more responsible person would have let it breathe for a few days - but I don't have that kind of patience, sadly. (don't be like me!)

As a refresher, here's the card catalog (and the wall for that matter) in it's original state:

Doesn't match as much as I'd like it to, in my mind I was seeing Blues, whites & golds.. kind of like this color block stool tutorial I did a while ago. Exactly like that actually. So I went to Home Depot & started paint shopping.  Since this piece is metal, getting the paint to adhere is a breeze - like I said, this will be color combo #4 for this lil baby.

If you have a card catalog you want to paint, follow along - it's the easiest makeover ever.  Actually, going down memory lane here - this very piece is the FIRST makeover I ever did. (Really REALLY old post here, on a long expired blog)

Can you believe how many drawers there are? Yep - they all had to come out, and it was FULL of junk I didn't need.  Spring Fall cleaning time!

Thirty. Thirty drawers.  Which, the way drawers work, this meant thirty junk drawers.  Most people only have 1 or 2. We have thirty.

I laid out our ginormous drop cloth, my thirty drawers, and got to cleaning. I stuck with a vinegar water combo, makes me feel like I'm being "green" n stuff.

 Here are my weapons of choice:

That gold one makes me happy... it's so shiny! There was a time when I would never have put as much gold into my home as I am now.... and that time is over. Bring it!

First some primer.  I know it says paint + primer, but I'm still skeptical and figured I should take the extra 15 minutes for some added protection. After all, this is going to get a lot of use.

Fun part - the colors! I did these at random. There is no pattern, it's just easier that way & comes out great.

Oh remember I said I was looking for a mirror to put there?  I was hoping for something simple, with a white frame.. when I realized - duh - spray paint the one I have leftover from our bedroom dresser project!

That pup is plastic (why?!), so good thing this spray paint adheres to plastic.  Be sure to double check that if you need to paint on plastic.  If your brand of spray paint doesn't, you can buy a plastic primer.  Use that first, then your regular paint after just the same.

Look who else is getting on the gold train:

Bunny! This piggy bank sits by our door and collects our change.  Last time he was full it was $70! Beforehand he was a certain nameless companies promo bun-bun.  He reminds me of those chocolate bunnies at Christmas... I tried to wrap a red ribbon around his neck but it made him look super chubby, and I had to be honest with him about that.  Those ears just weren't helping.

This coat hook was dark brown before, and practically disappeared against the navy blue. So gold it is!

I thought, am I getting carried away with all this gold? Then when I hung the cow up I realized what a silly statement that was... he's so cuuuute:

Gold & Navy Blue.  The perfect couple.

Now that my painting is done (was simple, right?) It's time to put it all back.  Here's the plain jane wall:

First our card catalog with random drawer placement:

To the right is just a spare shoe rack we had. In the future, a box-tray will be built to make it level with the card catalog & appear to be one piece. For now, it's fine.

Bring in the mirror:

How about a shot with a little natural light, eh?

Ah! Fresh & clean, plus it kind of looks like it's all one piece. When we step back into the kitchen, you can see a lot of the navy has been covered up... making it even more of just an accent:

Back a little farther (hey thanks for the nice comments on our stove! We love it too!):

I think we're making some progress here! Bun-Bun in his new home.....

"Feed da bunny..."

Then I shopped around the house for a few accent pieces to fill the dead zones (for now.... or forever.. we'll see):

I wanted some height in that corner, so a vase with a cluster of yellow grasses from the back hill did the job. Too bad they can't last...

There you go! We have tons of storage, the top 5-6 drawers serve as organizers for wallets, mail, keys.. while the rest serve as a more organized junk drawer/filing system for important junk.  A place for everything & everything in it's place, that's normal right? Haha... there's only one thing I think is a little crazy, the bottom 9 drawers are for storing color coordinated paper....  I have a problem!

What do you think of the entryway command center? It's moving right along, with a just a few details left:

Paint the command center wall Navy Blue

Paint the card catalog white...

Find & Paint a mirror

Bring in the accent colors & pieces  (gold? light blue?)

Trim the edges in something special. (Jute?)

Thanks for stopping in - hopefully I've convinced you to scout out a card catalog of your own.  Up Next  we'll focus on some details, adding rope trim to our accent wall.

-Jesse

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Entryway Command Center: Part 1 - Painting

Even though I'm not in school anymore, when I see all the kids heading back to class I feel the pressure to prepare.  I of course never liked going back to school, but I DID enjoy getting new school supplies.  Clean slate, fresh binders, ready to take on whatever challenge a teacher could dish.  So in that spirit, I thought it would be a great time to ramp up our "command center" - as they've come to be called.  A place to house everything you need - mail, keys, records, shoes...   Here's what we're starting with:

This area is technically a back-door entryway (the door on the right), but we seem to favor this door before leaving & when we come home.  I scored this library card catalog years ago, in the dumpster of a school, and it's been the handiest thing on the face of the earth! Plus it's easy to paint, so I think it's on paint job #3 (about to be 4, when we're done!).

Needless to say, this area was lacking. Boring. Ralph and I brainstormed over a glass of wine, and decided it needed to be a bold wall - since it's in a weird spot. A go to point. 

First step? Paint.

If you were standing in our home, in this area, the door on the left goes to the bathroom. I'm not crazy about that, but I also can't change it...so whatevs.  The door to the left of the fridge is the backdoor, and will someday be the type of door with a window in it.  The refrigerator is sadly in this area, but it's temporary. As it waits for a home in the actual kitchen, which is directly to the right.  We put in that light fixture, since it used to be one of those boob-lights, here's a close up:

Home Depot! Not bad, huh? I love the light it gives off.  Now, bloggers of the world will shun me for taking pictures in the evening, but I can't control the sun, and this was an after-work project. Which, if you find yourself with the energy to paint - never pass the opportunity up. Because you never know when you'll get that back!  Guess what color we went with...

Navy Blue!  (Benjamin Moore, Paint & Primer in one, "Old Navy" 2063-10 to be exact)Yea, frightening at first.  A dark house, a dark area, and we went with Navy Blue.  But in the end, I love it! It's only one wall, and we plan to put the library card catalog back, painted a bright white, with a big mirror & white frame.  So 80% of the blue will be covered.

Done. This was a quick paint job, and really satisfying.  By the way, we never use tape anymore (gasp!). We just use this Shur-Line paint edger that you can get at Home Depot, or on Amazon.  Once you get the hang of it you'll adore it. A couple daytime shots:

Light is a challenge in the mountains - a challenge I'm up for tackling.  Once this door has a giant window, light will pour in. And outside this door is a covered patio, begging for a skylight or two - bringing in even more - Just you wait...

 Let's take a step back into the kitchen...

 And a little farther back... you can see how this navy blue compliments the kitchen pretty well.

Part 1 done! My favorite part of a to-do list is crossing things off...no joke. Sometimes I add really remedial tasks that I'm going to do anyway just so I can cross them off.. (kinda crazy...)

1. Paint the command center wall Navy Blue
2. Paint the card catalog white...
3. Find & Paint a mirror
4. Bring in the accent colors & pieces  (gold? light blue?)
5. Trim the edges in something special. (Jute?)

Do you all have a command center? I've also heard them called "Take off & Landing Strips" which I think is really cute.  With the amount of drawers on our card catalog, it's the perfect spot to store everything we need to prepare ourselves for the day, or act as a catch-all place to dump out our pockets before settling in.

What do you think of the Navy Blue, too much?  Time will tell.  Up next I'll show you the card catalog paint job.... it's coming out great!  Also, update: we decided to trim the walls in something different.

-Jesse

Psst - If you are wondering about that spice rack, it's an oldy but a goody - see the post here. 

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Patio Progress: Using Our Feet

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Since it's Monday, I figure I can distract you from work with an update on the front of the casa.  We've been really getting into the fix-up-the-outdoors spirit lately, and one of our biggest pet peeves about the front of the house was this outhouse style covered patio (original whiny post here):

I imagine the last owner wanted more privacy or something, but we are not like that last owner at ALL - so this thing had to go.  It started innocently, we went outside to do some basic yardwork, and as it always tends to go, we got majorly distracted.  Before you know it, we were kicking (yes, KICKING) the semi-rotten patio walls down.  It. Felt. AMAZING.

***UPDATE: See the finished patio here***

Our original plan (seen here if you are just joining us) was to maybe cut the wall in half, make a decent banister and a semi-enclosed patio.  Nope.  We just through it all out the window and decided to make a pergola-like structure, which completely by accident, now looks as if we have a front door!  Please folks, if anything, let this post inspire you to tackle these seemingly intimidating projects around your home.  This was WAY easier than we thought, and I wonder why we didn't do it first!

OK, let me show you the progress pictures of this rewarding endeavor - lighting was hit or miss that day, so please forgive my photos!

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DIY Wooden Floor Mat

We have a lot of doors to get into our house, by a lot I mean six. Two in the living room, two in the kitchen, one in the bedroom (so random..) and one in the downstairs bedroom.  It makes for quite a process when it's time to lock up! Now that the rain has returned, it got me thinking - we need more entry mats! I saw this project a while ago on the Lowe's website and I would love to make one (or six..):

I love the colors! All those gaps will definitely help catch rain & debris before becoming part of our carpet.  Remember the wood-look tile entryway  we did a bit ago? It's holding up great to the weather,

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How To: DIY "X" Leg Bench

I mentioned at the end of the Tile Entryway post that I was thinking about finding a bench and doing it up in a lime green treatment.  Well I got to thinking, maybe I should just make one? Then I remembered I'd wanted to share this DIY X Leg Bench Tutorial with you a while back. Perfect timing! Take a look:

 

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Tile Entryway Project: Part 2 of 2

We did it! For a minute there it looked like this project may have to extend into the weekdays, but it all came together and I'm so glad we didn't have to do any after-work grouting nights this week! Let me fill you in on all the details, here's the Tile Entryway Project: Part 1 if you missed it.

We are pretty proud of ourselves here... only a few snags along the way. This tile was pretty easy to work with, and remember I was worried that the online pictures from Home Depot looked like they didn't use grout? I'm happy to report they do use grout, just a color that is almost the same as the tile -

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Tile Entryway Project: Part 1 of 2

So we are completely in the new house. No more back and forth, no more boxes up and down stairs, and especially... no more fast food! Don't get me wrong, fast food is delicious, but when you are so low on time that you are eating it almost (ok, every...) meal? That can do a real number on a body.  But we're getting settled, getting used to the place, and jumping into the projects.  This weekend calls for rain (of course!) so we've decided to tackle a project that one of the cats moved to the top of the to-do list. Meet, Tyler:

Aka T-Bop & T-Bop Shakur, respectively.  Oh, Tyler - look what you've done! Cats have a way of sending you a message, in this case it was let. me. out. Regardless of the 30 degree weather, this spoiled brat wants in and out priveleges, exactly when he wants them.  This does not agree with our carpet,

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